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AUTHOR: 


JACOBS 


J 


LEO 


TITLE: 


THREE  TYPES  OF 
PRACTICAL  ETHICAL 

PLACE: 

NEW  YORK 

DATE: 

1922 


COLUMBIA  UNIVERSITY  LIBRARIES 
PRESERVATION  DEPARTMENT 


Master  Negative  U 


BIBLIOGRAPHIC  MICROFORM  TARH ET 


-T* 


Original  Material  as  Filmed  -  Existing  Bibliographic  Record 


170 
J153 


Jacobs,  Leo* 

Hiree  types  of  practical  ethical  movements  of 
the  past  half  century,  by  Leo  Jacobs.     New  York, 
The  Kacmlllan  company,  1922, 

3cii  P.,  1  1.,  18U  p.     20  cm. 

Bibliography:  p.  175-181. 

Contents. --The  reUgious  ethical  movement.— The 
social  ethical  movement,~The  pure  ethical  move- 
ment* 

22-12265 


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Three  Types 

of  Practical  Ethical  Movements 

of  the  Past  Half  Century 


Three  Types  of 

Practical  Ethical  Movements 

of  the  Past  Half  Century 


J^<5^o 


THE    MACMILLAN  COMPANY 

NSW  YORK   •    BOSTON  •   CHICAGO  •   DALLAS 
ATLANTA   •   SAN  FRANCISCO 

MACMILLAN  &  CO..  Limited 

LONDON   .    BOMBAY   •   CALCUTTA 
MELBOURNS 

THE  MACMILLAN  CO.  OP  CANADA.  Ltd. 

TORONTO 


BY 

LEO  JACOBS 


0^"     'r^ 


Bf  in  Wotk 
THE  MACMILLAN  COMPANY 

1922 

All  riffhts  reserved 


PRINTED  IN  THl  UNITED  STATES  OF  AICXBIOA 


It 


W 


2S-  0-2-.  d¥6 


GoratieHT,  1922, 

,Bt  the  macmillan  company. 


Set  up  and  printed.   Published  May.  1922. 


TO 

THOMAS  DAVIDSON 

m7  revered  teacher,  exemplar,  and  guide, 

I    dedicate    this    humble    effort    of 

mine   towards    the   construction 

of  a  better  world. 


116 
■3153 


Of 

J.  J.  Little  k  Ives  Gompaqj 
New  York,  U.  S.  A. 


PREFATORY  NOTE 


Practical  as  distinguished  from  theoretic  ethics  is 
a  by-product  of  the  industrial  revolution,  and  one  of 
the  new  sciences  of  the  second  half  of  the  nineteenth 
century.  Like  every  new  science,  it  stands  in  need  of  a 
terminology  of  its  own.  The  old  terms  applicable  to 
theoretic  ethics  no  longer  satisfy.  Such  words  as  "so- 
cial," "organic,"  "solidarity,"  and  even  "religious," 
"good,"  and  "true,"  require  a  reinterpretation,  if  not  an 
altogether  new  conceptual  setting.  The  development  of 
this  new  terminology  is  slow.  Meanwhile  a  word  of 
caution  must  be  sounded  by  an  author  who  undertakes 
to  work  in  a  new  field  with  tools  originally  fashioned 
for  a  different  soil. 

By  the  term  "Eeligious  Ethical  Movement,"  I  mean 
an  ethical  movement  which  rests  on  a  theological  dogma. 
The  Christian  Socialist  Movement  which  is  described 
in  the  first  chapter  is  but  a  part  of  the  "Keligious 
Ethical  Movement."  The  Jewish  Conmiunity  Centers 
which  are  springing  up  about  us  are  another  part  of  the 
same  movement,  resting,  however,  on  a  somewhat  differ- 
ent theological  basis.  I  use  the  term  "Eeligious  Ethical 
Movement"  rather  than  "Christian  Socialist  Move^ 
ment"  as  a  chapter-title,  because  the  former  is  more 
inclusive;  and  the  results  which  follow  from  an  analy- 
SIS  of  its  principles  would  therefore  hold  true  not  only 
of  Christian  Socialism  but  also  of  Jewish  Religious 
Movements.  This  title  must  not,  however,  be  taken  to 
imply  that  the  other  practical  movements  are  irrelig- 
ious.    This  is  a  point  I  wish  to  stress;  for  most  of  us 


Till 


Prefatory  Note 


are  all  too  prone  to  take  the  usual  contrary  of  a  given 
term  for  granted. 

This  applies  to  the  implication  of  the  term  ''pure*^ 
ia  tiie  title  "Pure  Ethical  Movement.'^  It  is  not  in- 
tended to  mean  that  "The  Eeligious  Ethical  Movement" 
and  "The  Social  Ethical  Movement"  are  impure  in  the 
ordinary  sense  of  the  word.  Surely  those  who  join  the 
Ethical  Culture  Societies  do  not  regard  themselves  as 
alone  saintly  and  all  others  as  less  so.  In  speaking  of 
the  Ethical  Culture  Movement  as  "The  Pure  Ethical 
Movement,"  I  use  the  word  "pure"  in  its  technical 
sense  with  no  implication  that  the  movement  claims  a 
monopoly  of  the  highest  virtue.  The  terminology  of 
practical  ethical  science  is,  as  was  said,  in  the  process 
of  formulation,  and  the  terms  used  meanwhile  are  there- 
fore provisional.  The  word  "pure"  in  the  chapter  on 
"The  Pure  Ethical  Movement"  is  descriptive  of  an 
ethical  movement  which  rests  on  no  theological  dogma 
whatever. 

It  must  also  Be  understood  that  what  is  here  set  forth 
about  each  of  the  three  practical  movements  commits 
no  one  but  myself.  Their  founders  and  followers  may, 
perhaps,  disagree  with  my  interpretations.  I  offer  them 
as  my  own. 

A  word  of  appreciation  of  those  who  assisted  me  in 
the  task  of  sending  this  work  forth  to  the  world  must 
not  be  omitted.  The  deepest  appreciation  is  felt  by 
the  author  for  the  labor  bestowed  by  Dr.  Henry 
N'eumann  and  Mr.  James  Gutmann  in  reading  the 
proof-sheets,  and  for  their  invaluable  suggestions. 
Lastly  I  acknowledge  with  warm  gratitude  the  efforts 
of  my  wife,  without  whose  initiative  this  work  would 
still  be  resting  as  manuscript  in  the  drawer  of  my  desk. 

January,  1922.  Iian  Jacobs. 


hT  If  Hlf «  ililillll  H    iiwiiiiiiliiii,!)  J      liMu  iingii  m,  j|iyiimj|,imiiiiii(inu||||||(iiiipiii4wii  m 


INTRODCrCTION 


AMONG  English-speaking  peoples  there  have 
been  in  progress  during  the  past  fifty  years 
three  types  of  ethical  reform  movements.  These 
aimed  at  practical  and  not  at  merely  theoretical  ethics. 
They  aimed  at  conduct  and  not  at  theories  of  conduct. 
Each  of  these  types  has  had  a  free  run  for  at  least  a 
generation,  and  during  this  period  each  has  developed 
and  perfected  its  scheme  and  method,  setting  forth  its 
ground  plan  and  its  propaganda.  Time  has  now  come 
to  examine  the  aim  and  scope  of  these  reform  move- 
ments, with  a  view  towards  determining  the  chances 
of  success  which  each  type  inherently  carries  by  virtue 
of  the  principles  on  which  it  makes  its  appeal  for  a 
more  ethical  conduct.  A  practical  ethical  movement 
resembles  in  this  one  respect  a  political  movement. 
Both  make  an  appeal  for  a  certain  line  of  conduct.  But 
the  manner  of  estimating  their  success  in  obtaining 
their  object  is  ascertainable  in  the  one  by  a  resort  to 
the  suffrage  of  the  people,  a  purely  a.  posteriori  process ; 
in  the  other  by  an  indirect  a  priori  process;  for  there 
is  no  direct  way  of  determining  the  efficiency  of  a  con- 
temporary ethical  movement. 

The  three  types  of  practical  ethical  movements  must 
therefore  be  subjected  to  an  internal  criticism,  if  their 
efficiency  as  practical  movements  is  to  be  determined. 
This  is  all  the  more  necessary  because  in  the  absence 
of  any  other  test,  the  protagonists  of  each  type  claim, 
for  one  reason  or  another,  the  superiority  of  the  one 


iz 


*  Introduction 

favored  by  Uiem  over  those  favored  Ivjr  others.     There 
are  at  pf^ent  hosts  of  workers  in  the  Religious  Ethical 
Movement,   who  have  certain   interests  to  maintain. 
JN  ow  it  is  as  easy  to  become  a  bigot  in  an  ethical  as  in 
any  other  movement,  and  those  who  are  attached  to 
certain  interests  often  become  willing  bigots  to  main- 
tain them.     And  by  most  people  the  glowing  accounts 
these  give  of  their  successful  achievements  in  practical 
ethical  reform,  can  neither  be  proved  nor  disproved  in 
any  direct  way.     To  a  few  only  is  direct  observation 
possible,  and  these  few  are  offset  by  the  many  who  have 
an  interest  to  maintain.     Where  it  is  thus  hard  to 
maintain  the  truth  by  an  appeal  to  objective  facts,  re- 
sort must  be  had  to  subjective  principles.    A  thorough 
analysis  of  these  will  reveal  the  strength  and  weakness 
*?    iM  **v?^  to- which  they  belong  and  thus  also  forecast 
the  likelihood  of  their  efficiency  in  practical  affairs. 

Each  of  the  three  types  of  the  practical  ethical 
reform  movements  rests  on  a  different  basic  principle, 
from  which  it  derives  the  greater  part  of  its  strength 
and  no  small  share  of  its  weakness.     To  set  these  forth 
by  an  analysis  of  the  movements  both  in  their  historic 
developments  and  in  their  principles  is  the  object  of 
this  work.     Whatever  positive  contribution  to  practical 
ethics  18  to  be  found  herein,  has  been  set  forth  not 
as  a  separate  and  altogether  new  thesis— for  in  a  treat- 
ment   of    practical    ethical    reform    movements,    this 
would  involve,  nay  necessitate,  the  formation  of  a  differ^ 
ent  and  entirely  new  movement  which  is  not  at  all 
necessary— but   has  been   embodied    in  the   negative 
criticisms  of  the  Religious  Ethical  Movement  in  Chap- 
ter 1  and  of  the  Social  Ethical  Movement  in  ChaptOT 
^i.;,  but  more  dimjtly  in  the  positive  and  favorable 
cnticism  of  the  Pure  Ethical  Movement  treated  in 
Chapter  IIL 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  I 

The  Eeligious  Ethical  Movement 


CHAPTEB 


PAS! 

I.    The  Christian  Socialism  of  Maurice  ....  1 

n.    The  New  Christian  Socialists 15 

(a)  The  Guild  of  St.  Matthew  ....  17 

(b)  The  Christian  Social  Union      ...  23 
in.    The  Present  Status  of  Christian  Socialism     .     .  30 

(a)  The  Christian   Socialist  Fellowship    .  80 

(b)  Christian  Socialism  from  the  Univer- 

sity Chair 34 


CHAPTER  II 

The  Social  Ethical  Movement 

I.    The  History  of  the  Movement  ......  54 

(a)  Its  Inspirers  and  Pioneers   ....  54 

(b)  Its  Institutionalization 61 

(c)  The  Danger  Involved  in  Institutional- 

ization         71 

II.    Its  Immanent  Idea 83 


CHAPTER  m 
The  Pure  Ethical  Movement 


I.    Its  History 

II.    Its  Method  of  Reform 

III.    Its  Philosophical  Implications   . 

(a)     Its  Attitude  Towards  Reality 


106 
118 
129 
129 


^11  Contents 

CHAPTER 

„  ^  PAGE 

(b)     The  Value  of  Such  an  Attitude  To- 

.^  wards  Reality 140 

IV.    The  Nature  of  the  Ethical  Ideal  and  Its  Historic 

Sources 25q 

V.    What   Hope  for   Practical   Moral' Reform   ban 

We  Draw  from  the  Ethical  Ideal?  ....     166 

liibhography      .- 175 

Index      ....  1QQ 


Three  Types 

of  Practical  Ethical  Movements 

of  the  Past  Half  Century 


THREE  TYPES  OF  PRACTICAL 

ETHICAL  MOVEMENTS 
OF  THE  PAST  HALF  CENTURY 

1 

CHAPTEE  I 

THE  EELIGIOUS  ETHICAL   MOVEMENT 


(I)  The  Christian  Socialism  of  Maurice 

THE  second  and  third  decades  of  the  19th  cen- 
tury were  characterized  by  tremendous  social 
unrest.  They  represent  a  period  of  transition, 
political,  industrial  and  economic,  which  was  ushered  in 
with  the  subsiding  of  the  Napoleonic  cyclone.  The  un- 
rest was  universal.  To  the  sighs  of  the  lowest  classes  of 
society,  centuries  old,  was  added  a  general  unrest  that 
permeated  the  social  mass  and  threatened  to  burst  the 
fetters  that  bound  it. 

Though  the  shackles  were  everywhere  under  new 
strain,  these  strains  were  not  of  the  same  kind  in  all 
places.  In  England  and  in  America,  they  were  indus- 
trial and  economic ;  in  Italy,  in  Spain,  in  Austria,  and 
in  Poland  they  were  political.  The  calm  has  by  no 
means  arrived  yet,  though  the  storm  has  somewhat 
changed  in  character.  As  a  result  of  this  unrest  some 
progress  was  made.  In  America,  slavery  was  abolished; 
and  much  has  been  accomplished  in  England  and  in 

1 


2      Three  Types  of  Practical  Ethical  Movements 

Italy,  countries  which  were  fortunate  in  the  possession 
of  high-minded  leaders. 

Despite  these  achievements  there  still  remains 
enormous  social  and  industrial  unrest  to-day.  Yet 
there  is  a  difference  between  the  unrest  of  to-day  and 
that  of  the  middle  of  the  century.  The  working  class 
of  1848  felt  itself  in  possession  of  little  power,  and 
that  for  three  reasons:  1.  It  had  as  yet  little  experience 
in  organization  and  therefore  was  nnabl*  tT  bring 
united  pressure  to  bear  upon  the  weakest  point  of  the 
opposition.  2.  It  looked  upon  the  opposition  party 
with  somewhat  of  the  awe  with  which  the  serf  looked 
upon  his  master.  3.  The  dignity  of  labor  had  not  yet 
been  sufficiently  established  and  therefore  the  working- 
class  did  not  find  itself  bold  enough  to  face  the  employ- 
ing class'  as  equal  faces  equal.  The  unrest  expressed 
itself  therefore  intermittently,  breaking  out  here  and 
there,  often  with  volcanic  intensity. 

The  unrest  of  to-day  is  characterized  by  just  the 
opposite  marks.  To-day  the  working  class  is  in  pos- 
session of  the  consciousness  of  a  tremendous  power — 
a  power  secured  by  effective  and  experienced  organiza- 
tion, and  it  no  longer  feels  any  of  that  reverence  toward 
the  upper  class  which  used  to  serve  as  a  deterrent  prin- 
ciple in  its  opposing  attitudes  to  the  employing  group. 
In  addition,  the  increased  comforts  with  which  modem 
inventions  have  blessed  even  the  very  poor,  have  filled 
up  somewhat  the  gap  between  the  two  classes  and  helped 
to  raise  the  contestants  to  a  nearly  similar  level.  The 
battles  between  the  industrial  classes  to-day  are  there- 
fore more  masterful.  The  parties  are  always  on  the 
fiii  vive,  and  are  ever  preparing  in  times  of  industrial 
peace  for  the  trying  times  of  industrial  war.  The 
clashes  therefore  when  they  do  come  are  like  those 
which  occur  when  Greek  meets  Greek. 


The  Religious  Ethical  Movement 


8 


It  was,  however,  only  slowly  and  gradually  that  the 
inequality  in  the  fighting  equipment  of  the  two  classes 
was  removed.  In  the  history  of  the  removal  of  this 
inequality,  the  Religious  Ethical  Movement  plays  a 
great  part.  It  has  helped  to  match  the  combatants,  and 
has  also  tried  to  parry  their  blows;  and  like  the  Red 
Cross  Societies  on  the  battlefield,  it  has  endeavored  to 
assuage  the  wounds  after  they  were  once  made.  To 
trace  the  history  of  its  activity  we  must  go  back  to  the 
Reform  Bill  of  1832. 

The  Reform  Bill  of  1832  enfranchised  the  middle 
class  inhabiting  the  newly  arisen  manufacturing  cities. 
But  the  workers  in  the  factories  and  the  sweaters  in 
the  shops  still  remained  in  a  condition  of  subserviency. 
They  were  subject  to  the  aristocracy  of  wealth  which 
is  even  more  distasteful  than  subjection  to  a  feudal 
aristocracy  of  birth.  The  feudal  lord  was  at  least 
solicitous  of  the  condition  of  his  underlings,  and  a  sense 
of  undefined  duty  moved  him  to  take  under  his  pro- 
tection his  lowly  tenants.  Not  so  was  it  with  the  new 
aristocracy.  The  moneyed  aristocrat  owing  his  wealth 
to  the  exploitation  of  laborers  to  whom  he  was  bound 
by  no  feudal  ties  was  more  ruthless  than  the  feudal 
lord.  He  was  more  self-centered,  more  self -flattering, 
more  boastful  of  his  energy  and  resources. 

This  attitude  of  the  captain  of  industry  was  bound 
to  bring  about  a  spirit  whose  philosophy  of  life  was 
expressed  in  the  saying,  ^^Each  for  himseK  and 
the  devil  take  the  hindmost.^^  This  extreme  individ- 
ualism felt  no  duties  towards  others,  nor  scruples 
about  means.  It  rested,  in  short,  on  a  lower  moral 
plane  than  did  the  fuedaJism  which  it  supplanted. 
Ko  wonder  that  men  like  Carlyle  and  Ruskin  detested 
It  to  the  utmost  and  with  prophet-like  vehemence  called 
for  a  return  of  the  old  feudal  order.     The  new  was 


Three  Types  of  Practical  Ethical  Movements 

evidently  imrse  than  the  old.  Human  emotions  seemed 
to  have  dried  up  during  the  transition  froni  the  one 
to  the  other.  The  moneyed  aristocrat  had  neither  pity 
nor  love;  neither  the  fatherly  anxiety  of  the  feudal 
lord,  nor  the  prudent  selfishness  which  characterized 
the  southern  slave  owner. 

Carlyle,  apostle  of  paternalism,  abhorred  strongly 
this  type  and  blamed  the  individualistic  system  for 
giving  it  birth.  Not  knowing  how  to  turn  the  new 
individualism  back  to  the  humane  channels  from  which 
it  sprang,  he  came  to  hate  individualism  which  was 
responsible  for  the  new  order.  Tennyson  had  not  yet 
written  the  lines: 

"The  old  order  changeth  yielding  place  to  new,^^.  .  . 
Lest  one  good  custom  should  corrupt  the  world/' 

and  Darwin  had  not  yet  propounded  the  new  truth. 
I  Carlyle  therefore  could  see  no  way  out  of  the  difficulty 
except  by  going  back  to  the  old.  He  lived  in  an  age 
of  transition  and  not  being  able  to  go  with  the  current, 
he  undertook  to  buffet  it.  His  work  is  an  apotheosis 
of  Feudalism.  He  says,  "Let  the  merely  commercial 
contract  between  man  and  man  be  dissolve!,  and  let  the 
old,  feudal,  domestic,  yea  even  if  it  were  serf-like  rela- 
tion be  restored."  Cariyle  had  no  other  plan  of 
redemption. 

Cariyle  was  fie  proi^iet  of  the  Ideal  Order.  He 
^  stood  for  the  German  notion  of  law,  a  rather  abstract 
concept  which  he  borrowed  from  German  Philosophy. 
The  concrete  seemed  to  his  idealistic  temperament 
somewhat  polluted  and  corrupt,  and  to  stand  much  in 
the  relation  which  the  concrete  particulars  of  Plato 
stood  in  with  regard  to  the  Ideas.  Carlyle  thus  de- 
gpised  the  concrete.  He  could  not  tolerate  any  abei> 
mtion  from  the  ideal  §ven  in  the  social  sphere.    Now 


The  Religious  Ethical  Movement  5 

the  sphere  of  social  economics  is  the  most  concrete  of 
all  the  spheres  of  life,  and  the  application  of  the  ideal 
order  of  Law  for  which  Carlyle  stood  to  this  sphere 
seemed  at  that  time  perhaps  as  incongruous  as  does 
at  present  the  application  of  Christian  Science  to  a 
person  suffering  from  physical  ills  on  his  sick  bed.  But 
to  Carlyle  this  was  the  only  way  of  redemption  from 
the  social  and  industrial  ills  of  the  times.  He  abhorred 
any  other  plan;  for  he  believed  in  no  other. 

The  redemption  which  Carlyle  failed  to  see  was, 
however,  perceived  in  a  quarter  which  Carlyle  was,  to 
be  sure,  acquainted  with,  but  which  he  utterly  despised. 
That  quarter  was  the  Church.  Now  the  Church  has 
ever  been  the  institution  in  which  the  ideal  is  made 
concrete  and  in  which  it  is  particularized.  In  it,  the 
Great  Unknown  is  clothed  with  a  particular  personality 
and  made  perceptible  to  the  senses ;  and  even  the  Great 
Beyond  is  particularized  into  Heaven  and  Hell.  It 
was  this  institution,  so  adept  in  the  art  of  particulariza- 
tion,  that  now  stepped  into  the  arena  and  applied  its 
methods  to  the  social  and  industrial  difficulties  of  the 
time.  In  this  institution  the  concrete  affairs  of  the 
world  are  given  a  place  in  the  grand  mosaic  of  life,  and 
the  new  conditions  which  Carlyle's  ideal  order  could 
not  arrange  in  that  mosaic,  were  embodied  in  it  by  a 
churchman,  Frederick  Denison  Maurice,  a  contempo- 
rary of  Carlyle.  It  was  Maurice  who  first  applied  to 
the  new  concrete  industrial  problems  the  religious 
machinery  which  was  by  nature  so  well  adapted  for 
dealing  with  the  concrete.  Maurice  was  persuaded  that 
in  Christianity  alone  lay  social  salvation. 

Carlyle  and  Maurice  represent  two  different  types. 
To  contrast  the  one  with  the  other,  is  to  contrast  the 
abstract  German  Philosophy  of  Eeason  with  Hie  con- 
crete practical  English  Philosophy  of  sense  which  loved 


6      Three  Types  of  Practical  Ethical  Movements 

to  deal  with  particulars.  It  is  with  concrete  particular 
social  endeavors  that  we  find  Maurice  connected  at  all 
times. 

In  1848  the  condition  of  the  laboring  classes  was 
deplorable.  Strangely  enough,  it  was  the  class  most  re- 
cently enfranchised,  the  industrial  merchants  who  had 
been  enfranchised  in  1832,  that  now  were  the  oppres- 
sors of  the  laboring  classes  and  opposed  their  enfran- 
chisement. Kingsley's  "Yeast"  and  "Alton  Locke" 
give  by  no  means  exaggerated  pictures  of  the  conditions. 
The  sweaters  in  the  ^ops,  the  workers  in  the  mines  and 
factories  were  no  better  off  after  1832  than  before  it. 
They  were  literally  enslaved  bodily  and  mentally.  The 
laboring  classes  looked  back  to  1832  when  Parliamen- 
tary legislation  removed  the  political  disability  of  the 
middle  class ;  arid  copying  the  political  program  of  that 
class  they  likewise  sought  by  legislative  enactment  to 
better  their  own  circumstances.  They  put  their  trust 
in  a  freer  charter,  and  for  a  long  time  after  1832  Char^ 
tist  agitation  was  the  propaganda  of  the  working  class. 
For  many  years  occasional  riots  and  conflagrations  in 
various  localities  in  England  were  part  of  their  policy. 

By  1848  the  laboring  classes,  who  for  years  had  seen 
their  hope  in  Chartism,  began  to  lean  towards  Social- 
ism ;  and  Socialism  had  by  that  time  assumed  a  political 
aspect.  The  social  and  political  movements  had 
coalesced,  and  the  agitation  for  new  reforms  became 
thereby  more  threatening.  This  threat  took  a  definite, 
though  a  veiled  form  in  April,  1848,  when  the  monster 
petition  of  the  Chartists  estimated  to  contain  a  million 
signatures,  was  presented  to  the  Parliament.  It  was 
generally  supposed  that  the  implied  threat  would  be 
carried  out  with  riot  and  revolution  in  case  Parlia- 
ment failed  to  comply.  England  was  really  frightened ; 
but  the  lethargic  clergy  did  not  move. 


The  Religious  Ethical  Movement  7 

Those  who  looked  upon  the  times  impartially,  and 
not  from  the  viewpoint  of  a  class,  felt  alike  the  wrongs 
of  the  laborers  and  the  inadequacy  of  their  demands 
for  a  Parliamentary  reform.  They  were  desirous  to 
avoid  bloodshed  and  felt  that  something  ought  to  be 
done.  Chief  among  this  group  was  Maurice,  the  son 
of  a  Unitarian  minister  who  shared  with  his  father 
and  sisters  the  community-work  which  circumstances 
called  forth  during  the  period  of  his  youth.  The  ex- 
perience he  had  gained  then  helped  him  now,  in  his 
manhood,  to  tackle  more  confidently  the  problems 
which  gave  rise  to  Chartism.  He  was  ably  seconded  by 
Kingsley  and  Ludlow.  This  group  of  three  set  about  to 
mend  matters  in  a  way  that  seemed  to  them  most  likely 
to  succeed.  Their  efforts  were  heroic  and  their  indefat- 
igable zeal  resembled  that  of  Mazzini  in  his  efforts  for 
Italian  unity.  These  high-minded  men  knew  the 
futility  of  the  Chartist  proposal  to  bring  about  eco- 
nomic reform  by  mere  Parliamentary  fiat,  and  urged 
strongly  against  it;  but  not  by  forceful  measures  did 
they  manifest  their  objection  to  Chartism. 

Theirs  was  an  educational  propaganda  carried  on 
through  a  periodical  called  Politics  for  the  People, 
which  Maurice  and  Kingsley  had  established  and  to 
which  the  latter  was  the  chief  contributor  under  the 
nom  de  plume  of  Parson  Lot.  The  aim  of  this  period- 
ical was  to  bring  about  a  better  feeling  between  the 
upper  class  and  the  working  class.  Politics  for  the 
People  combated  successfully  the  Chartist's  fallacy 
of  relying  on  an  act  of  Parliament  to- bring  about  a 
moral  reform  and  to  stem  greed  and  selfishness  by  a  leg- 
islative fiat.  They  taught  that  only  by  Christian  prac- 
tices can  human  relations  be  amicably  established.  The 
articles  written  in  Politics  for  the  People  stirred 
up  vehement  opposition  from  those  who  were  bene- 


8     Three  Types  of  Practical  Ethical  Movements 

fited  by  the  statiis  quo,  but  they  had,  nevertheless,  the 
©ffect  of  bringing  about  a  better  feeling  between  the 
upper  class  and  the  working  men,  some  of  whom  be- 
came closely  attached  to  Maurice  and  to  his  concilia- 
tory policy.  This  was  exactly  the  object  for  which 
Maurice's  movement  was  started,  namely,  the  removal 
of  the  barrier  which  existed  between  laborers  and 
employers.  As  early  as  1840  he  writes:  "What  edu- 
cation can  avail  best  to  put  down  Chartism?  By 
confuting  its  unrighteous  pretensions,  by  satisfying 
its  righteous  demands.  This  is  the  education  which 
the  people  of  England  want."  For  about  two  years 
this  education  was  spread  by  Politics  for  the  People, 
At  the  end  of  this  period,  the  more  sensible  men 
at  least  began .  through  his  efforts  to  fraternize  with 
workmen  in  education,  in  amusement  and  in  organiza- 
tion. Opposition  to  Maurice's  propaganda  soon  mani- 
fested itself.  He  was  accused  of  being  a  Socialist ;  and 
the  accusation  came  not  only  from  his  lay  brethren  but 
from  his  fellow-clergymen  as  well.  The  term  Socialism 
at  that  time  implied  also  atheism  and  a  disregard  for 
moral  laws  and  consequently  violence  and  bloodshed. 
The  English  clergy,  7hile/ot  organized  as  solidly  as 
the  continental  Neo-catholic  clergy  in  opposition  to 
Socialism,  were  none  the  less  as  strongly  opposed  to  it, 
and  mostly  through  ignorance  of  what  Socialism 
stood  for. 

The  clergy  were  infected  with  an  aristocratic  aloof- 
ness from  the  laboring  classes  of  whose  economic  cir- 
cumstances, which  were  by  far  more  pressing  than  their 
spiritual  needs,  they  knew  nothing.  They  lived  in  that 
careless  indifference  to  the  actual  worldly  condition  of 
their  flocks  which  made  tbeir  mission  as  pastors  a 
mockery.  The  estrangement  between  that  Christian 
111$  Qi  ih^  d^^  Aid  the  economic  life  of  the  laboring 


The  Religions  Ethical  Movemerd 


9 


classes  meant,  in  short,  that  the  life  of  the  latter  was 
unchristian,  and  that  of  the  former  unpractical.  No 
one  appreciated  this  more  fully  than  Maurice  who  had 
been  brought  up  amidst  his  father's  practical  schemes 
of  social  reform.  Even  before  the  ripening  of  the 
Chartist  petition  he  writes:  "The  necessity  of  an 
English  theological  reformation  as  the  means  of 
averting  an  English  political  revolution,  has  been  more 
and  more  pressing  my  mind." 

To  win  the  support  of  the  clergy  to  his  view  he  began 
a  new  periodical  called  the  Christian  Socialist.  It  was 
intended  to  bring  about  a  better  understanding  between 
the  clergy  and  the  laboring  classes,  just  as  Politics  for 
the  People  was  designed  to  bring  about  a  better  under- 
standing between  the  upper  class  and  the  working  peo- 
ple. Its  whole  tenor  is  a  protest  against  "unsocial 
Christians  and  against  unchristian  Socialists."  All  the 
misery  of  life  is  attributed  to  the  unchristian  relation 
between  man  and  man.  "Every  successful  strike,"  he 
writes  in  1850,  "tends  to  give  the  workmen  a  very 
undue  and  dangerous  sense  of  their  own  power  and  a 
very  alarming  contempt  for  their  employer,  and  every 
unsuccessful  strike  drives  them  to  desperate  and  wild 
courses."  The  only  open  path  which  leads  to  a  proper 
relation  between  man  and  man  in  all  their  dealings, 
public,  private,  economic  and  industrial,  is  that  which 
leads  to  the  constitution  of  society  on  a  family  basis. 
"I  may  talk,"  he  says,  "about  the  Church  as  a  family 
forever;  if  I  do  not  try  to  show  that  it  can  ever  under 
any  circumstances  fulfill  some  of  the  obligations  of 
one,  my  preaching  is  a  poor  thing." 

The  central  theme  of  Maurice's  social  philosophy, 
the  basic  principle  that  underlies  all  his  thoughts  is  the 
Fatherhood  of  God.  By  tenaciously  holding  to  the 
Fatherhood  idea,  he  felt  that  he  could  inculcate  in  all 


10   Three  Types  of  Practical  Ethical  Mwements 

men  the  Brotherhood  idea,  and  in  this  way  root  out 
liie  selfish  greed  from  men's  hearts  which  was  respon- 
sible for  the  inhumanity  manifested  in  the  new  indusr 
trial  order.  Accordingly  he  emphasizes  it  to  such  an 
extent  that  the  theological  consideration  becomes  to  him 
the  most  embracing  phase  of  human  life.  From  it  are 
derived  all  human  institutions;  state  institutions,  edu- 
cational institutions  and  family  institutions.  In  his 
conception  of  the  State  he  does  not  start  from  the  rad- 
ical or  popular  ground.  "I  begin,"  he  says,  "in  the 
acknowledgment  of  the  divine  sovereignty;  thence  I 
come  to  the  idea  of  kings  reigning  by  the  grace  of  God  J 
This  I  hold  to  be  the  first  of  political  truths  historically 
and  the  first  fundamentally."  The  same  principle  he 
sets  forth  in  reg^ard  to  the  educational  question  that  was 
troubling  Parliament  at  the  time.  When  the  Educa- 
tional Bill  was  before  Parliament,  the  question  debated 
was  whether  the  State  or  the  Church  was  more  fitted 
ill  undertake  national  education.  Maurice  moved  by 
Ms  metaphysical,  theological  ground-principle  presses 
the  view  that  theology  rightly  understood  as  the  study 
0f  existing  facts,  was  best  fitted  for  the  purpose  of 
binding  all  other  studies  which  form  the  curriculum 
of  a  national  system  of  education.  Theology  was  tn 
serve  as  the  "scientia  scientiarum,"  the  science  whose 
business  it  is  to  assign  to  all  other  sciences  their 
proper  place.  Sociology  and  economics  thus  became 
the  mere  handmaids  of  theology. 

The  close  acquaintance  and  association  with  working- 
men  which  the  publication  of  the  two  successive  period- 
icals had  fostered,  led  directly  to  a  practical  setting 
forth  of  a  new  policy  in  economic  reform.  Fixed  by  the 
theologic  notion  of  God's  fatherhood  which  cannot  be 
squared  at  all  well  with  an  individualistic  system,  the 
Ckristian  Socialists  ceased  mere  literary  propaganda 

w      ••  ■    ■■■*     t^ 


The  Religious  Ethical  Movement 


11 


and  conceived  ihe  plan  of  workingmen's  cooperative 
associations.  They  pushed  the  scheme  by  touring  the 
country  and  by  lecturing.  They  also  changed  the  name 
of  their  periodical  to  Jcmrrud  of  Co-operative  Asso- 
ciations, -r^.         T  T.      1      i. 

The  political  economists  of  the  Kicardian  school  at 
once  felt  their  field  invaded  and  took  swift  measures 
to  repel  the  invaders  who,  as  they  thought,  came  from 
a  foreign  province  with  Christian  principles  as  weapons. 
What  business  had  theologians  with  economic  prob- 
lems ?  Maurice,  whose  voice  was  the  "ipse  dixit"  of 
the  group,  launched  forth  with  the  theory  that  "Political 
Economy  is  not  the  foundation  of  morals  and  politics, 
but  must  have  them  (the  Christian  Principles)  for  its 
foundation  or  be  worth  nothing.  Competition,"  he 
says,  "is  put  forth  as  the  law  of  the  universe.  That  is 
a  lie.  The  time  is  come  for  us  to  decree  it  is  a  lie  by 
word  and  deed.  I  see  no  way  but  association  for  work 
instead  of  for  strikes.  I  do  not  say  that  the  relation  of 
employer  and  employed  is  not  a  true  relation.  I  do  not 
determine  that  wages  may  not  be  a  righteous  mode  of 
expressing  that  relation.  But  at  present  it  is  clear 
that  this  relation  is  destroyed,  that  the  payment  of 
wages  is  nothing  but  deception." 

Unmindful  of  the  attacks  of  the  economists,  the 
Christian  Socialists  established  workingmen's  associa- 
tions all  over  England.  A  group  of  promoters  was 
formed  at  first  to  advise  and  then  to  finance  these 
associations.  Of  these  associations  many  prospered, 
but  many  also  failed,  much  to  the  delight  of  the  Ki- 
cardians.  The  failures  were  due  mostly  to  the  mis- 
trust which  sprang  up  among  the  workers. 

Education,  especially  moral  education,  must  be  sup- 
plied if  workingmen's  associations  were  not  to  go  down 
in  failure.    Maurice  and  his  friends  at  once  came  for- 


Three  Types  of  Practical  Ethical  Movements 

ward  to  supply  the  need.  He  established  a  working- 
men^s  college  where  instruction  was  given  in  the  eve- 
nings. The  faculty  numbered  men  of  prominence,  and 
all  gave  their  instruction  gratis.  The  college  was  a 
great  success,  and  was  the  last  of  the  practical  schemes 
of  social  reform  conceived  by  the  early  Christian 
Socialists.  They  had  devoted  the  best  part  of  their 
lives  to  social  reform  and  had  become  old  in  the  ser- 
vice. At  the  time  of  Maurice's  death  all  classes  of  men, 
his  staunchest  opponents  among  them,  acknowledged  the 
greatness  of  his  work.  Indeed  the  comparative  calm 
that  settled  over  the  land  was  acknowledged  to  be  due 
in  the  words  of  Brentano  "to  the  Christian  spirit  and 
personal  efforts  of  Maurice  and  his  friends.'^ 

It  has  sometimes  been  said  that  the  great  social  re- 
fonmer  must  be  possessed  not  so  much  of  a  great  truth 
as  of  a  great  enthusiasm  for  that  which  he  believes  to 
be  the  truth.  In  this  sense  Maurice  was  a  great  re- 
former. For  the  truth  which  he  enunciated,  the 
Fatherhood  idea  as  applied  to  industrial  relations,  is 
but  a  half-truth  at  best.  Yet  from  belief  in  this  truth 
he  never  for  a  moment  wavered.  On  occasions,  the 
singleness  of  the  truth  which  he  believed  in  made  him 
Mind  to  other  truth.  While  listening  for  instance  to  a 
lecture  by  Carlyle,  he  restrained  himself  with  difficulty 
from  jumping  from  his  seat.  "I  felt  throughout'* 
(the  lecture),  he  says,  "how  Hmcli  more  kind  and  toler- 
ant towards  the  truth  in  all  forms  of  faith  and  opinion, 
he  can  be  and  should  be,  who  does  in  his  heart,  believe 
Jesus  Christ  to  be  the  son  of  God  and  that  all  systems 
are  feeling  after  Him,  in  the  common  center  of  the 
world,  than  Carlyle  can  ever  be  while  he  regards  the 
world  as  without  a  center,  and  the  doctrines  of  Christ's 
Incarnation,  Passion  and  Eesurrection  as  only  one  of 
the  mythical  vestures  in  which  certain  actions,  which 


The  Religious  Ethical  Movement 


13 


without  such  a  vesture,  he  secretly  knows  and  confesses 
to  be  good-for-nothing  abstractions,  have  wrapt  them- 
selves up."    Maurice  sought  and  found  a  metaphysical 
basis.    "I  cannot  find,"  he  writes  again,  "that  Carlyle 
leads  us  directly  to  a  center ;  but  I  do  find  that  he  makes 
us  despair  for  want  of  one,  and  that  he  expresses  the 
indistinct  wailings  of  men  in  search  of  it  better  than 
all  the  other  writers  of  our  day.    Just  as  far  as  I  have 
been  able  to  grasp  this  belief  in  a  Head  of  Humanity, 
just  so  far  the  greatest  problems  of  Ethics  seem  to  me 
to  find  a  solution.  .  .  .  This  was  the  rock  upon  which 
I  felt  I  could  rest.    It  was  a  foundation  for  a  universal 
human  society.  ...  If  Christ  be  really  the  head  of 
every  man,  and  if  he  really  had  taken  human  flesh, 
there  is  ground  for  a  universal  fellowship  among  men, 
a  fellowship  that  is  itself  the  foundation  of  those  par- 
ticular fellowships  of  the  nation  and  the  family  which 
I  also  consider  sacred.    It  is  the  business  of  the  Churdi 
to  assert  this  ground  of  universal  fellowship;  that  it 
ought  to  make  men  understand  and  feel  how^  possible 
it  is  for  men  as  men  to  fraternize  in  Christ;  how 
impossible  it  is  to  fraternize  except  in  Him."    Maurice 
was  influenced  not  by  the  force  of  intellect  but  of  faith. 
He  found  the  key  of  all  his  problems,  not  in  an  infalli- 
ble reason  but  in  faith  in  the  everlasting  love  of  God. 
Such  then  is  the  solution  of  the  economic  problems 
which   the  new    industrialism    called    into    existence. 
How  much    better   is   this   than    Carlyle's    solution? 
The  want  of  a  center,  which  Maurice  deplored  in 
Carlyle,  he  believed  he  made  good.     Christ  was  the 
center  and  only  in  Him  was  it  possible  to  fraternize. 
What  was  the  result  ?    Those  outside  of  Him  could  not 
come  into  brotherly  relations.    Maurice  not  only  taught 
but  acted  upon  this  exclusive  principle,  as  for  instance, 
when  he  refused  to  work  with  other  Christian  sects  on 


Three  Types  of  Practical  EiJiicd  Movements 

the  ground  of  our  common  Christianity  "because  to 
fraternize  upon  the  commcm  elements  in  sects  is  an 
avowal  that  you  fraternize  on  some  other  ground  than 
that  of  our  union  in  Christ."  In  other  words,  you  must 
accept  the  metaphysical  basis  of  Maurice's  ethics  or 
he  will  not  enter  into  ethical  relations  with  you.  You 
must  be  able  to  say  with  him,  "Our  father  who  art  in 
Heaven,''  or  you  will  not  be  able  to  cooperate  ethically 
with  him  in  earthly  labors. 

This  is  the  conclusion  to  which  a  half-truth  such  as 
it  that  of  the  Fatherhood  idea  drives.  The  best  indi- 
cation that  the  Fatherhood  idea  as  a  basis  of  brother- 
hood is  only  a  half-truth  lies  in  the  fact  that  it  is  self- 
contradictory.  It  seeks  brotherhood  at  the  start,  but 
at  the  end  it  repels  it.  "He  that  is  not  for  us  is  against 
ma"  is  the  conclusion  to  which  every  religious  ethical 
movement  has  come,  the  moment  it  digs  down  to  meta- 
physical rock  for  its  foundation.  Only  those  who  are 
'Mm  each  other  can  fraternize. 

An  ethics  so  grounded  must  become  exclusiva  Such 
was  the  case  with  the  Jewish  Ethical  System  founded 
on  a  patriarchal  origin.  By  it,  all  relations  with  the 
gentile  who  stood  without  the  communion  were  re- 
stricted. The  wine  he  touched  became  impure;  and 
even  the  dishes  he  ate  from  needed  purification.  The 
inherent  weakness  of  the  Eeligious  Ethical  Movement 
is  its  exclusiveness — an  exclusiveness  which  manifests 
Itself  chiefly  in  seeking  a  basis  for  ethical  conduct,  and 
in  not  being  satisfied  with  conduct  alone. 

Carlyle  was  not  altogether  wrong  when  he  called  the 
Christian  Socialists  mystics.  They  insisted  on  a  meta- 
physical foundation  for  ethical  fellowship,  instead  of 
giving  indefeasible  value  to  ethical  conduct  regardless 
nf  its  foundation.  The  hair-splitting  disputant  has 
ever  been  the  most  intolerant  bigot    It  may  be  rightly 


The  Religious  Ethical  Movement 


15 


diarged  that  the  thinking  man,  the  philosopher  who 
looks  for  final  causes,  finds  it  much  harder  to  live  in 
ethical  fellowship  than  the  ordinary  unsophisticated 
man  who,  when  satisfied  with  his  fellow's  conduct,  does 
not  probe  to  learn  its  credentials. 

Maurice  starts  his  practical  work  in  offsetting 
Chartism  by  appealing  to  the  Fatherhood  idea.  He 
next  tries  to  put  brotherhood  into  practice  through  the 
formation  of  cooperative  associations  and  finally  finding 
it  necessary  to  prepare  men  for  brotherhood,  he  estab- 
lishes a  workingmen's  college.  This  was  the  scope  of 
Maurice's  activity.  The  scheme  was  a  noble  one.  In 
the  whole-hearted  enthusiasm  with  which  it  was  en- 
tered upon,  it  has  rarely  been  equaled.  The  ground, 
however,  upon  which  the  scheme  was  based  was  insuf- 
ficient to  buoy  up  this  enthusiasm  and  with  the  death  of 
its  leaders,  the  movement  for  a  time  slumbered.  When 
Christian  Socialism  was  revived  it  was  in  a  somewhat 
new  setting. 

(II)   The  New  Christian  Socialists 

The  activity  of  Maurice  and  Kingsley  in  behalf  of 
industrial  reform  along  the  lines  laid  down  by  Christian 
Ethics  ended  in  the  establishment  of  a  "Workingmen's 
College" — an  acknowledgment  that  by  education  alone 
were  men  to  be  equipped  for  industrial  cooperation. 
This  was  evidently  the  conviction  of  the  early  Christian 
Socialists — a  conviction  to  which  they  arrived  in  con- 
sequence of  the  failure  of  many  of  the  cooperative 
associations.  But  failure  was  proof  to  them  not  that 
the  principle  of  cooperation  had  failed,  but  that  the 
men  who  entered  into  it  had  failings  which  must  first 
be  done  away  with  through  education,  before  the  prin- 
ciple could  be  applied  successfully. 


II-' 


16   Three  Types  of  Practical  Ethical  Movements 

Here  Maurice  and  Ms  associates  lefk  off.  It  was  not 
from  this  point,  however,  that  the  new  Christian 
Socialists  took  up  the  work,  after  the  temporary  lull 
which  the  Crimean  War  had  put  upon  all  social  activ- 
ity; Not  long  after  Maurice's  death,  Christian  Social- 
ism shook  off  its  slumber  and  there  began  a  second 
period  of  Christian  Socialist  activity.  In  every  reli- 
gious movement,  we  find,  first,  a  period  whidi  is  given 
over  to  the  setting  forth  of  principles ;  second,  a  period 
of  disputation  which  brings  out  the  essence  and  the 
contradiction  of  the  principles  set  forth  in  the  first 
period.  In  accordance  with  this  historic  truth,  the 
second  period  of  Christian  Socialism  is  a  period  of  dis- 
putation, during  the  course  of  which,  the  essence  and 
the  difficulties  of  the  principles  enunciated  by  Maurice 
are  strongly  contrasted.  It  thus  manifests  two  opposing 
views  set  forth  by  two  opposing  parties.  Broadly  speak- 
ing, these  two  opposing  parties  are  represented  by  two 
organizations,  the  Guild  of  St.  Matthew  and  the  Chris- 
tian Social  Union. 

Both  these  organizations  lave  in  common  with  each 
other  and  with  the  Christian  Socialism  of  Maurice,  the 
protest  against  the  inhumanity  and  against  the  selfish- 
ness of  the  times.  They  have  in  common  also  the  belief 
that  Christian  teaching  alone  is  the  lever  by  which  the 
social  degradation  of  the  times  can  be  rolled  away.  But 
they  fail  to  grasp  the  significance  of  the  educational 
movement  in  which  Maurice's  work  ended,  and  they 
entirely  n^lected  it 

The  Guild  of  St.  Matthew  and  the  Christian  Social 
union  fall  into  differences  over  the  practical  signifi- 
cance of  God's  Fatherhood  as  taught  by  Christ,  and  over 
the  meaning  and  emphasis  which  Christ  put  upon  his 
doctrines. 


The  Religious  Ethical  Movement 
(a)  The  Guild  of  St,  Matthew 


17 


The  Guild,  which  was  founded  in  1877  by  the  Kev. 
Steward  D.  Headlam,  a  pupil  of  Maurice,  identifies 
Christ's  teachings  with  the  teachings  of  Socialism. 
He  claims  that  Christ's  Kingdom  of  God  is  an  earthly 
kingdom  and  that  his  reforms  were  such  as  are  those 
which  Socialism  promises  to  inaugurate:  the  doing 
away  with  diseases  and  untimely  deaths  that  are  the 
direct  outcome  of  social  and  economic  conditions.  Ex- 
cluding the  views  of  some  Socialists  upon  religion  and 
marriage,  the  program  of  the  Guild  is  identical  with 
those  of  the  economic  Socialists.  They  point  out  that 
"The  works  of  Christ  were  all  distinctly  secular,  social- 
istic works — ^works  for  health  against  disease,  works 
restoring  beauty  and  harmony  and  pleasure  where  there 
had  been  ugliness  and  discord  and  misery — ^works  tak- 
ing care  to  see  that  the  people  were  properly  fed,  works 
subduing  nature  to  human  good,  works  showing  that 
mirth  and  joy  have  a  true  place  in  our  life  here,  works 
also  showing  that  premature  death  has  no  place  here."  ^ 

The  Guild  of  St.  Matthew  allied  itself  as  far  as  pos- 
sible with  the  Fabian  Society  which  Thomas  Davidson 
founded  in  London  in  1883  but  which  he  abandoned 
when  its  program  became  socialistic.  The  Guild  of 
St.  Matthew  and  the  Fabian  Society  wage  a  common 
war  upon  society  as  it  is  constituted  to-day.  As  allies, 
the  Guild  offers  its  platform  to  the  Socialistic  orators 
and  speakers  of  the  Fabian  Society,  and  the  Fabian 
Society  opens  its  Fabian  Tracts  to  the  pen  of  the  Guild. 
Never  was  the  insight  of  Maurice  into  human  needs 
more  clearly  revealed  when  he  chose  the  name  Chris- 
tian Socialism  for  his  movement,  than  it  was  by  this 
union  of  a  Christian  organization  with  a  purely  Social- 

*  S.  D.  Headlam — Christian  Socialism, 


18   Three  Types  of  Practical  Ethical  Movements 

istic  organization.  For  this  union  proves  that  there  was 
something  intrinsically  valuable  in  the  life  of  Christ 
ly  which  both  Socialists  and  Christians  were  alike  at- 
tracted, no  matter  what  their  separate  beliefs  may  have 
been  in  regard  to  the  church  doctrines  that  were  built 
upon  that  simple  life. 

There  are  certain  human  relations  that  are  unhesi- 
tatingly approved  or  condemned  by  all  parties,  so  that 
even  a  child  is  judge  of  them  and  discerns  the  right 
ind  wrong.  These  are  the  ordinary  dealings  between 
man  and  man,  which  conscience  in  each  case  approves 
or  disapproves.  In  the  humblest  walks  of  life,  in  the 
simple  unsophisticated  cobbler,  we  often  find  the  purest 
forms  of  moral  Ufa  And  we  find  pure  forms  of  moral 
life  among  the  lowly,  assuredly  not  because  nature  has 
made  it  easy-  for  them  to  live  the  moral  life — ^for  she 
has  not  provided  abundantly  for  them  and  has  not 
made  unnecessary  the  fierce  struggle  for  existence  which 
lias  turned  almost  everywhere  men  into  brutes.  The 
sweat  of  the  simple  man's  toil  and  his  long  hours  of 
labor  are  indications  that  competition  and  hardships 
are  not  absent.  But  purity  is  here  a  sort  of  natural 
lir^uct — as  natural  a  concomitant  of  life  as  the  blosr 
som  is  of  the  plant's  growth.  Such  was  the  life  of 
Christ  in  every  particular.  We  hear  of  no  academic 
debates  between  Christian  and  Socialist  questioning 
and  defending  the  value  of  Christ's  acts.  And  the  acts 
which  Christ  performed  and  whidh  every  simple  man 
daily  performs  in  the  course  of  his  life,  in  his  vocation 
and  amidst  his  pleasures,  in  his  family  and  in  his  com- 
munal life,  are  the  acts  that  comprise  by  far  the  greatest 
portion  of  every  man's  human  life. 

Such  acts  have  unquestioned  value.  The  philoso- 
pher's stone  alone  causes  the  ripple  in  the  calm  waters 
of  life  where  these  acts  abound ;  and  the  confused  reflec- 


The  Religious  Ethical  Movement 


19 


tions,  that  come  from  the  surface  thus  rippled,  do  not 
enable  us  to  recognize  the  good  from  the  bad.  It  seems 
as  if  it  requires  intellectual  greatness  to  discern  human 
littleness.  Indeed,  Mephistophelian  intellectual  acumen 
is  often  guilty  of  stirring  up  drowsy  human  brutish- 
ness.  In  the  sphere  of  conduct  it  is  more  true  than 
elsewhere  that  Thought  sunders  and  that  Life  unites. 

Nowhere  is  this  more  clearly  seen  than  in  the  conse- 
quences flowing  from  the  life  of  Christ  as  compared 
with  those  flowing  from  his  supposed  metaphysical 
thoughts.  The  life  of  Christ  has  united  millions  and 
passed  muster  for  two  thousand  years  through  the  test 
of  various  ethical  systems,  while  the  supposed  thoughts 
of  Christ,  belabored  with  metaphysical  formulae  accu- 
mulating for  centuries,  have  separated  millions  and  have 
never  received  the  sanction  of  other  ethical  systems. 
The  advent  of  the  Church  with  its  dogma  and  rules  has 
heaped  confusion  upon  confusion.  Christian  and 
Socialist  are  never  more  united  than  in  their  approval 
of  life;  never  more  at  variance  than  on  questions  of 
dogma. 

How  blind  we  must  be  to  fail  to  see  that  the  approval 
which  everybody's  conscience.  Socialists'  as  well  as 
Christians',  gives  to  the  life  of  Christ,  is  an  approval  of 
his  mere  "Good  Will  towards  Man" ;  and  that  whenever 
universal  conscience  approves  the  simple  life  of  the 
simple  man,  the  element  in  that  life  that  calls  forth 
approval  is  the  good-will  that  it  manifests. 

Metaphysical  analysis  that  seeks  the  ground  and 
basis  of  the  good  will  is  the  stone  that  confuses  the 
calm  waters,  and  cleaves  their  unbroken  surface  into 
lashing  and  warring  parts.  In  the  ethical  movement 
which  we  are  studying  we  have  a  further  illustration 
of  this  historic  truth.  "Christian  Socialists  are  agreed 
m  their  antagonism  to  individual  greed  and  injustice; 


20   Three  Types  of  Practical  Ethical  Movemerds 

in  personal  and  sympathetic  davotioii  to  the  welfare 
of  the  people ;  the  parting  of  the  ways  is  as  to  the  real 
basis  on  which  modem  industry  shall  organize  itself."  ^ 
When  thought  seeks  for  bases  upon  which  to 
ground  pure  simple  good  will,  it  acts  its  metaphysical 
role  and  accomplishes  nothing.  This  is  particularly 
true  of  the  work  of  the  Guild  in  metaphysical  regions. 
The  Guild  of  St.  Matthew,  seeking  a  basis  for  its  ethics, 
finds  that  the  real  basis  on  which  to  organize  is  to  be 
found  in  the  Church  Catechism  and  the  Prayer  Book. 
The  Guild  purposes:  1.  "To  get  rid  of  the  existing 
prejudice  against  the  Church,  her  sacraments  and  doc- 
trines, and  to  endeavor  to  justify  God  to  the  people. 
2.  To  promote  frequent  and  reverent  worship  in  the 
Holy  Communion  and  a  better  observance  of  the  teach- 
ing of  the  Church  of  England.  3.  To  promote  the  study 
af  social  and  political  ^ueatians  in  the  light  of  the 
Incarnation.'^ 

In  putting  forth  such  a  program,  the  Guild 
delving  into  metaphysical  speculation,  reaped  the 
inevitable  eonsequences.  A  program  such  as  this, 
divides.  It  does  not  unite.  It  seems  to  have  an  ax 
of  its  own  to  grind  instead  of  a  desire  to  grind  the  com- 
mon axe.  The  basis  on  which  it  sets  out  to  establish 
the  brotherhood  principle  of  Hillel  and  the  good-will  of 
Christ  is  far  too  narrow  to  support  such  principle.  It 
ends  naturally  in  intolerance  of  all  systems  that  en- 
deavor to  establish  the  same  principle  on  another  basis. 
"Christian  Socialists,"  says  the  manifesto  issued  by 
the  Guild  of  St.  Matthew,  "know  no  outlying  spheres  or 
districts.  .  .  .  Every  thought  nf  individualism  and 
isolation  is  spiritual  treason." 

Such  intolerance  destroys  the  very  principle  of  good- 
wiU  wMeh  it  seeks  to  establish    It  strives  to  whip  men 

^  Rey.  J.  CUfford — ^in  Fahian  SocialiMt  8erie9  No.  1,  p.  31. 


The  Religious  Ethical  Movement 


21 


into  line  not  for  the  living  out  together  of  the  good-will 
principle  but  only  for  the  acceptance  of  its  own  dogmas. 
It  tries  to  establish  altruism  by  an  example  of  egoism. 
For  as  George  Santayana  says,  "Intolerance  itself  is 
also  a  form  of  egoism,  and  to  condemn  egoism  intoler- 
antly is  to  share  it."  Such  action  may  be  excusable  in 
Socialism  which  makes  no  claim  to  be  primarily  an 
ethical  movement,  but  in  Christian  Socialism,  which 
stands  primarily  for  ethical  life,  intolerance  can  find 
no  excuse;  and  yet  the  writings  of  the  Guild  members 
show  abundant  evidence  of  it,  particularly  with  regard 
to  economic  questions.  "We  Christian  Socialists," 
writes  the  founder  of  the  Guild,  "maintain  that  the 
reform  calling  for  access  to  the  land  in  the  country 
(and  taking  away  of  the  land  from  their  present  owners 
and  distributing  it  among  the  workers)  is  demanded  by 
justice  and  we  maintain  not  only  that  it  can  be  carried 
out  in  consistence  with  the  highest  morality  but  that 
morality  is  impossible  without  it." 

This  is  exactly  the  Socialistic  cry — ^the  cry  that  the 
landowner  is  a  robber.  The  Christian  Socialists  of  the 
Guild  of  St.  Matthew,  like  the  economic  socialists  of 
the  Fabian  Society,  classify  society  into  beggars,  robbers 
and  workers.  "If  you  want  a  rough  description  of  the 
object  of  the  Christian  Socialists,"  writes  Eev.  Steward 
D.  Headlam  of  the  Society,  "I  should  say  that  it  was 
to  bring  about  the  time  when  all  shall  work  and  when 
the  robbers  shall  be  utterly  abolished.  A  follower  of 
Christ  is  to  be  an  out-and-out  fighter  against  poverty." 

How  different  this  species  of  Christian  Socialism 
which  the  Guild  teaches,  is  from  that  of  the  Christian 
Socialism  of  Maurice!  The  Christian  Socialism  of 
Maurice  not  even  in  its  most  ardent  moments  stooped 
to  the  calling  of  names;  while  the  Guild  of  St.  Matthew 
resorts  to  this  practice  without  the  least  suspicion  of 


S3   Three  Types  of  Practical  Ethical  Movements 

being  itself  guilty  of  unchristiaii  conduct.  And  yet,  the 
Guild  of  St  Matthew,  whose  founder,  the  Rev.  S.  D. 
Headlam,  was  a  pupil  of  Maurice,  insists  that  the  Guild 
"came  into  being  to  develop  the  teachings  of  Maurice 
and  other  English  theologians  of  1848,  convinced  that 
their  faith  was  to  be  fouad  ia  tb§  QhiWT^  CutilJhism 
and  the  Prayer  Book.''  ^ 

This  is  no  great  departure  from  the  doctrine  of 
Maurice.  It  is,  as  Noel  says,  a  development  of  the 
metaphysical  principle  of  Maurice  who  was  the  philoso- 
pher of  Christian  Socialism.  It  is  the  logical  outcome 
of  Maurice's  position  that  the  Church  "ought  to  make 
men  understand  and  feel  how  impossible  it  is  to  fra- 
ternize except  in  Christ  and  that  the  only  true  basis  of 
human  brotherhood  is  the  acceptance  of  a  conunon 
Father  and  a  common  Savior."  This  means,  that  the 
good-will  of  Christ,  exhibited  in  life,  is  not  possible 
except  upon  a  metaphysical  basis,  upon  which  it  is 
supposed  to  rest — ^namely,  upon  the  basis  of  God's 
Fatherhood,  of  Christ's  Incarnation,  Passion  and 
Resurrection.  From  this  it  follows  naturallv,  as 
Headlam  says,  that  every  baptized  person  is  bound  by 
the  catechism  to  treat  every  other  baptized  person  abso- 
lutely as  a  brother. 

But  every  unbaptized  brother  is  not  included  iji  the 
community.  This  has  been  the  verdict  of  history  in 
regard  to  all  ethical  systems  that  sought  a  ground  for 
brotherhood  and  found  it  in  the  principle  of  likeness. 
"He  that  is  not  of  us  is  against  us,"  is  the  unvaried  out- 
come of  such  a  system.  Its  corollary  is  intolerance. 
If  you  cannot  accept  our  catechism,  we  cannot  include 
you  In  omt  fellowship,  even  though  you  accept  our 
Bible. 

The  foimder  of  the  Guild  and  the  avowed  successor 

>  Oonrad  Noel— in  Guild  of  8t,  Matthew. 


The  Religious  Ethical  Movement 


23 


of  Maurice  complains  bitterly  that  every  horrible 
Calvinistic  doctrine  can  be  taught  now  in  our  Board 
Schools.  "It  is  certainly  not  for  those  who  value  true 
manly  religion,"  he  writes,  "to  allow  a  compromise 
which  includes  the  Bible  and  excludes  the  Catechism." 
Simple  good-will  is  forgotten  in  the  all-absorbing  inter- 
est of  finding  a  basis  for  it. 

The  social  principle  inherent  in  the  good-will  is 
negated  by  the  platform  upon  which  men  sought  to  rest 
it  The  vestment  is  considered  more  valuable  than 
the  principle  which  it  clothes ;  and  thus  finally  we  lose 
sight  of  the  essence  and  fraternize  not  on  the  simple 
principle  but  on  some  metaphysical  basis  for  it.  That 
Catholic  priest,  who  replied  to  the  accusation  of  har- 
boring one  that  was  guilty  of  all  human  vices,  by 
saying,  "Shall  I  make  her  an  infidel  also?"  acted  con- 
sistently along  this  line. 

The  Guild  of  St.  Matthew  thus  fails  where  Maurice's 
school  failed,  and  for  the  same  reason.  It  has  not 
exerted  an  influence  like  to  that  of  Maurice  and  the 
earlier  Christian  Socialists;  but  this  difference  in  in- 
fluence shows  itself  not  because  their  doctrines  were 
unlike  each  other;  on  the  contrary,  their  bases  were 
nearly  identical.  The  difference  in  results  is  due  to 
the  fact  that  the  degree  of  influence  is  proportional  to 
the  life  one  leads,  and  not  to  the  thought  one  preaches. 
The  life  of  Maurice,  not  his  thought,  was  responsible 
for  his  influence.  The  lives  of  the  Guild  members,  good 
lives  though  they  were,  did  not  measure  up  to  the 
grandeur  of  the  earlier  Christian  Socialists  and  their 
corresponding  influence  was  thus  less  visible. 

(h)     The  Christian  Social  Union 

The  Christian  Social  Union  which  represents  the 
other  phase  of  the  revised  Christian  Socialism  was 


24   Three  Types  of  Practical  Ethical  Movements 

founded  in  1889  by  Bishop  Westcott  wlio  had  also  been 
m  pupil  of  Maurice  at  Cambridge.  It  numbers  among 
its  members  the  dominant  portion  of  the  English  clergy, 
and  exerts  therefore  considerable  influence.  It  has 
established  a  considerable  number  of  branches  through- 
oiit  England,  chief  of  which  are  the  Oxford  and  the 
London  branches.  The  former,  through  its  organ  the 
Economic  Review  is  its  most  effective  mouthpieca 

Til©  objects  im  which  the  Christian  Social  Union 
was  organized  are  set  forth  as  follows: 

1.  To  claim  for  Christian  Law,  the  ultimate  author- 
ity to  rule  social  practice. 

2.  To  study  in  conmion  how  to  apply  the  moral  truths 
and  principles  of  Christianity  to  the  social  and  economic 
difficulties  of  the  times. 

3.  To  present  Christ  in  practical  life  as  the  living 
Master  and  King,  the  Enemy  of  wrong  and  selfishness, 
lie  Power  of  ri^teousness  and  love. 

* 

The  principles  T)y  which  the  Christian  Social  Union 
expects  to  attain  these  ends  are  set  forth  thus: 

1.  In  Jesus  Christ,  God  is  the  father  of  all  men,  and 
all  men  are  brothers. 

2.  God  is  the  sole  possessor  of  the  earth  and  its  full- 
ness; men  are  the  stewards  of  God^s  bounties. 

8*  Labor,  being  the  exercise  of  body,  mind  and  spirit, 
in  the  broadening  and  elevating  of  human  life,  it  is  the 
duty  of  every  man  to  labor  diligently. 

4.  Labor,  as  thus  defined  should  be  the  standard  of 
social  worth. 

Ci.  When  the  divinely  intended  opportunity  to  labor 
is  given  to  all  men,  one  great  cause  of  the  present  wide- 
spread suffering  and  destitution  will  be  removed. 

Mmm  briefly  itnted,  the  guiding  priliclples,  the  basic 
supports  of  the  moral  good  which  it  is  the  object  of  the 


The  Religious  Ethical  Movement 


25 


Union  to  attain,  are  the  Fatherhood  of  God,  the  stew- 
ardship of  man  and  the  dignity  of  labor— principles 
first  definitely  enunciated  by  Maurice. 

The  Union  is  conservative  in  regard  to  Socialism, 
and  manifests  a  tendency  against  its  economic  teaching. 
It  takes,  however,  no  definite  stand;  but  wavers  and 
oscillates  to  find  a  middle  path  between  Individualism 
and  Socialism.  "The  truth  of  individual  hedonism— 
the  truth  that  each  single  individual  claims  by  an  in- 
eradicable instinct  his  own  self-realization,  his  own 
happiness,  Christianity  recognizes ;  each  man  is  to  come 
into  possession  of  his  own  life ;  he  is  to  'save  his  life.' 
The  truth  again  of  the  older  Utilitarianism — ^that  each 
niaa  counts  one  and  no  man  more  than  one,  is  at  the 
heart  of  Christianity.''  ^ 

In  the  practical  field  the  Christian  Social  Union 
returned  to  Maurice's  favorite  scheme  of  cooperative 
associations  among  workingmen.  These  now  are  very 
considerable  in  number  throughout  the  land,  doing  mil- 
lions of  dollars  worth  of  business  yearly.  Cooperation 
is  the  watchword  of  the  positive  practical  program  of 
the  Christian  Social  Union.  "The  Church,"  we  are 
told  by  Bishop  Gore,  "must  be  spiritually  and  physi- 
cally a  profit-sharing  company.  This  means  a  stern 
discouragement  of  the  accumulation  of  wealth  except 
as  held  consciously  in  trust  for  the  common  good;  a 
strenuous  opposition  to  the  development  of  luxury;^ 
practical  realization  of  the  temper  of  contentment  with 
sufficient  and  wholesome  food  and  lodgment,  air  and 
clothing,  work  and  leisure,  and  of  the  greater  blessing 
of  giving  as  compared  with  receiving." 

The  Christian  Social  Union  seeks  voluntary  instead 
of  forced  cooperation,  and  is  sure  that  only  by  the  reli- 

» '3*®  Sodal  Doctrine  of  the  Sennon  on  the  Mount,  p.  154,  Economic 
RevHew,  1892. 


II 


Three  Types  of  Practical  Ethical  Movements 

gious  can  such  associatioii  be  entered  into.  J.  H.  Noyes 
puts  the  case  in  this  way:  "The  non-religious  party 
has  tried  association  under  the  lead  of  Owen  and  failed ; 
the  semi-religious  party  has  tried  it  under  the  lead  of 
Fourier  and  failed;  the  thoroughly  religious  party  has 
not  tried  it."  Not  till  Maurice  began  his  activities  did 
the  thoroughly  religious  party  as  much  as  think  that  its 
work  lay  along  this  line,  and  this  thought  has  not  even 
yet  quite  prevailed  among  the  clergy. 

But  while  it  is  easy  for  all  Christian  Sects  to  accept 
the  general  doctrine  of  cooperation,  it  is  not  so  easy 
to  determine  the  extent  to  which  cooperative  association 
is  to  go.  This  is  far  from  being  agreed  upon.  Two 
alternatives  present  themselves:  the  voluntary  associa- 
tions of  which  Maurice  was  the  exponent  and  for  which 
his  times  were  not  quite  ripe,  is  one;  and  the  coercive 
associations  which  Socialism  proposes  and  which  would 
be  all  embracing  in  their  scope,  is  the  other.  The 
Christian  Social  Union  stands  for  the  former ;  the  Guild 
of  St  Matthew,  for  the  latter.  This  point  of  differ- 
ence is  the  source  of  much  disputation.  Each  seeks 
to  justify  its  stand  by  appealing  to  the  Bible  for  con- 
firmation of  its  position.  Biblical  passages  are  sought 
out,  making  for  the  abolition  of  private  property  and 
are  brandidied  in  the  face  of  those  who  stand  for  it; 
and  these  in  their  turn  bring  other  biblical  passages  to 
bear  witness  to  their  point  of  view. 

The  main  point  of  contention  is  the  status  of  private 
property  according  to  Jesus.  The  passages  chiefly 
quoted  for  private  property  are : 

**Who  made  me  a  ruler  or  divider  over  you?" 

**Take  heed  and  keep  yourselves  from  all  covetous- 
ness,  for  man's  life  eonsisteth  not  in  the  abundance 
of  the  things  which  he  possesseth." 


The  Religious  Ethical  Movement  27 

The  opponents  of  private  property  bring  forward: 

'*Lay  not  up  for  yourselves  treasures  upon  earth." 

*'Sell  all  thou  hast  and  follow  me." 

"If  any  shall  not  work,  neither  shall  he  eat." 

"Who  planteth  a  vineyard  and  eateth  not  the  fruit 
thereof;  or  who  feedeth  a  flock  and  eateth  not  the 
milk  of  the  flock  ?" 

This  debate  leads  nowhere  and  fails  to  clarify  the 
situation ;  for  it  proves  neither  alternative  by  the  very 
fact  that  it  proves  both.  The  good-will  principle  on 
which  Christ  lived  his  life  is  not  confined  by  any  pro- 
conceived  theories  on  private  property  or  on  other — 
worldliness.  The  life  principle  is  essentially  an  active 
principle,  not  a  hesitating,  weighing,  doubting  activity. 
Life  lives ;  thought  tarries.  The  searching  behind  this 
living  principle  for  its  prop  has  ever  been  a  disappoint- 
ing search.  The  metaphysics  to  which  it  has  given  rise 
has  ever  failed  to  stand  on  its  own  feet  and  so  it  has 
always  been  seeking  a  prop  for  itself ;  and  this  prop  has 
in  turn  sought  another.  Each  in  its  turn  has  served  as  a 
hindrance  to  the  very  principle  which  it  endeavored  to 
support. 

The  Christian  Social  Union,  of  all  the  phases  of  the 
Christian  Social  Movement,  has  been  least  guilty  of 
this  inefficacious  search  for  a  ground  of  morality.  Its 
statements  on  the  social  problems  of  the  times  and  their 
ethical  settings  are  correspondingly  less  objectionable. 
These  statements  command  for  this  very  reason  uni- 
versal approval  just  as  the  good-will  principle  com- 
mands it,  simply  because  the  ideas  set  forth  in  regaid 
to  the  care  for  public  health  and  safety,  the  relation  of 
employer  and  employee,  superior  and  inferior,  buyei^ 
and  seller,  public  official  and  citizenship  are  expansions 
and  illustrations  of  that  principle  and  not  preconceived 


'II 


III 


28    Three  Types  of  Practical  Ethical  Movements 

theories  in  back  of  it.  This  thought  is  thus  expressed 
by  Eamsden  Balmforth.^  "The  moral  progress  of  the 
individual  depends  not  (M  the  adoption  of  any  special 
theological  or  metaphysical  belief,  but  on  that  natural 
expansion  and  development  of  the  faculties  which  grad- 
ually freeing  the  mind  from  error,  gives  clearer  vision 
and  deeper  insight  into  the  difficulties  wMdi  birden  our 
human  life." 

Il  Imi  always  been  found  that  whenever  we  remove 
our  attention  from  life  and  direct  it  to  the  search  of  its 
cause  we  actually  see  more  dimly  the  very  life  we  seek  to 
illumine,  and  the  dimness  is  proportional  to  the  inten- 
sity of  our  groping  in  its  preconceived  substratum. 
Even  the  Christian  Social  Union,  when  it  touches  this 
hidden  field  loses  the  luster  which  its  doctrines  else- 
where possess.'  IsTote,  for  instance^  the  narrow  view  of 
life's  activity  into  which  Bishop  Gore  drops  from  the 
broad  vista  described  above,  the  moment  the  social  re- 
former becomes  the  theologian.  He  desires  to  see,  he 
says,  "a  body  of  celibate  men  living  without  any  other 
life-vows  than  those  of  their  baptism"  and  these  "would 
surely  be  calculated  to  make  men  see  how  holy  and 
happy  a  thing  is  Christian  life  when  it  can  free  itself 
from  entanglements/' 

The  point  of  importance  lies  right  here.  Once  free 
from  the  entanglements  that  tie  down  the  good-will,  and 
that  do  not  give  it  free  scope  by  burdening  it  with  pre- 
conceptions, and  your  morality  will  shine  by  its  own 
tme  light.  Celibacy,  in  so  far  as  it  rests  on  precon- 
ceptions, is  itself  an  entanglement  that  hinders  because 
it  narrows  life's  impulse ;  and  as  for  baptism,  how  often 
in  past  times  was  failure  to  have  been  baptized  a  hin- 
drance to  social  fellowship  and  a  limit  beyond  which 

•See  The  New  Reformation  and  its  Relation  to  Moral  and  Social 
Problem«j  p.  69. 


The  Religious  Ethical  Movement 


29 


the  good-will  in  civic  life  could  not  extend!  At  this 
very  day  are  not  all  sorts  of  discrimination  practiced 
even  in  high  circles  merely  on  the  strength^  of  the  pre- 
conceived metaphysical  and  logical  implications^  of  bap- 
tism and  are  not  preferences  shown  in  these  implica- 
tions? Theology  even  implicates  God  in  this  weak- 
ness; for  its  conception  of  a  limbo  makes  God  him- 
self share  this  human  feeling. 

A  still  more  striking  example  of  the  result  of  burden- 
ing the  good-will  with  theological  grounds  and  of  rest- 
ing cooperation  on  religious  bases  is  found  in  the  fact 
that  the  very  exercise  of  the  good-will  is  often  not 
valued  unless  it  be  exercised  by  those  who  are  included 
in  the  fellowship.  A  prominent  minister  of  the  Church 
of  England  writes,  "The  danger  of  the  age  is  that 
of  following  where  He  points  the  way  without  faith 
in  Him.  Men  are  willing  to  accept  His  teaching 
if  they  may  treat  Him  as  they  do  Socrates  or  Hillel. 
We  must  not  fall  into  this  snare."  ^  See  how  the 
metaphysical  presumption  is  of  more  value  than  is  the 
living  out  of  the  good-will ! 

This  weakness  of  Christian  Socialism  comes  out  again 
in  its  attitude  towards  education.  From  Maurice  down, 
the  Churchman  has  invariably  taken  a  stand  against 
the  State's  direction  of  education;  for  he  fears  that 
if  the  State  undertakes  it,  "cherished  convictions  will 
be  trampled  upon."  If  the  Church  is  assigned  to  take 
charge  of  it,  the  money  will  be  well  spent,  whereas  if 
the  State  does  it,  "the  money  will  be  taken  to  support  a 
sect."  Therefore  we  are  advised  to  "let  government 
which  is  a  machine  working  with  as  little  humanity 
as  possible,  stay  in  its  own  province  and  teach  secular 
education,  while  the  Christian  Church  consecrates  its 
strength  and  grace  to  perfect  and  crown  all  instructions 

*  John  Clifford — Jesus  Christ  and  Modem  Social  Life, 


I 


I 


i 


•irii 


.i 


30    Three  Types  of  Practical  Ethical  Movements 
by  bringing  the  Children  to  Christ  that  He  may  bless 


^ 


t  . 


HPii  il  is  that  Christian  Socialism  endeavors  to  re- 
form from  within,  and  yet  despite  the  fact  that  re- 
form comes  from  within  and  through  fellowship,  the 
Christian  finds  it  hard  to  do  the  reforming,  even  though 
it  is  claimed  that  he  has  an  immense  advantage  over 
other  social  reformers  in  the  clear  knowledge  of  God 
as  revealed  in  Jesus  Christ.  This  is  only  apparently 
m  advantage;  actually  it  is  a  disadvantage;  for  Chris- 
tianity allows  into  its  reform  movement — a  movement 
which  works  from  within  and  through  fraternization — 
only  those  who  enter  from  behind — for  only  those  who 
accept  the  background  upon  which  its  morality  rests 
ar©  included  in  the  reform  and  to  those  alone  does  fel- 
lowsnip  extend. 


(Ill)  The  Present  Status  of  Christian  Socialism 
(m)     The  Christiati  Soddlist  Fellowship 

We  have  so  far  discussed  the  Eeligious  Ethical  If ove- 
ment  by  considering  its  aspect  as  presented  by  Christian 
Socialism.  We  have  seen  the  weak  spot  of  that  move- 
ment, and  we  have  attributed  this  weakness  to  the 
failure  of  the  original  Christian  Socialist  Movement 
under  Maurice  and  of  its  two  offshoots,  the  Guild  of 
St.  Matthew  and  the  Christian  Social  Union,  to  accept 
the  good-will  as  in  itself  sufficient  to  ground  an  ethics 
flfc^  The  attempt  of  Maurice  had  for  its  object  to 
christianize  Socialism  and  to  socialize  Christianity. 
We  may  safely  say  that  he  succeeded  in  great  measure 
in  socializing  Christianity.   The  church,  after  his  work 

ifoin  Clifford— ^esiit  (ThrUt  and  Modem  Social  Life. 


The  Eeligious  Ethical  Movemerd 


31 


was  done,  no  longer  presented  such  sights  as  the  hunting 
parson  who  was  dead  to  the  economic  needs  of  his 
starving  factory  parishioners.  Gradually  through  his 
efforts,  churchmen  as  a  third  estate  standing  aloof  from 
the  lowest  social  class,  disappeared.  He  failed,  however, 
to  make  much  headway  in  christianizing  Socialism. 

More  and  more  as  the  economic  conditions  became 
acuter,  economic  Socialism  and  not  Christianity  be- 
came the  resort  of  the  working  people.  We  hear  it  said 
now  that  "Socialism  is  Christianity's  most  formidable 
rival."  ^  To  come  to  terms  with  this  rival  was  the 
aim  of  the  Guild  of  St.  Matthew;  to  ward  it  off,  was 
in  the  main  the  aim  of  the  Christian  Social  Union. 

Success  depended  largely  upon  the  power  of  the  con- 
tending forces  to  draw  the  common  people  to  their  teach- 
ing ;  and  the  form  which  the  contest  took  was  a  rivalry 
between  the  Church  and  the  Socialist  Meeting  Hall  to 
get  and  hold  an  audience.  The  Church  and  the  Socialist 
Meeting  both  made  a  bid  for  a  large  attendance,  and, 
judging  by  results,  the  Church  lost. 

The  next  move  was  an  aggressive  campaign  by  the 
victors  to  capture  the  Church.  This  campaign  is  con- 
ducted at  present  by  an  organization  that  has  adopted 
the  name  "Christian  Socialist  Fellowship."  What  a 
strange  reversal  Christian  Socialism  has  suffered  during 
the  half  century  since  its  foundation!  In  1848  the 
Church  started  to  capture  Socialism;  in  1908  we  find 
an  organized  attempt  of  Socialism  to  capture  the 
Church. 

This  movement  is  mainly  an  American  movement, 
extending  chiefly  throughout  'New  England.  Under  the 
name  of  "The  Christian  Socialist  Fellowship,''  the 
movement  proposes  "To  permeate  churches,  denomina- 
tions and  other  religious  institutions  with  the  social 

»T.  C  Hall. 


'ji 

tl 


I! 


I  Hi 


§ 


32    Three  Types  of  Practical  Ethical  Movements 

message  of  Jesus."  This  seems  an  open  affront  to 
the  Church.  The  very  depository  of  the  doctrines  of 
Jesus  is  by  this  statement  of  the  Christian  Socialist 
Fellowship  declared,  as  it  were,  by  "innuendo,"  to  be 
empty  of  them. 

The  Christian  Socialist  Fellowship  is  indeed  only 
ft  counter  move  of  Socialists  to  capture  the  Church 
for  Socialism.  To  accomplish  this  it  ignores  the  basic 
theological  conception  of  Christianity  and  like  the 
Guild  of  St.  Matthew  takes  a  stand  upon  those  biblical 
passages  in  which  Jesus  expresses  Socialistic  doctrines. 
Unlike  the  English  organization,  it  puts  no  emphasis 
upon  ceremonials  or  rituals  and  offers  fellowship  to 
all  who  are  ready  to  jaia  with  it  in  bringing  about  the 
Socialistic  rerime. 

The  constitution  of  the  Fellowship  goes  on  to  state 
that  the  object  of  the  movement  is:  "To  show  that 
Socialism  is  the  necessary  economic  expression  of  the 
Christian  life ;  to  end  the  class  struggle  by  establishing 
industrial  democracy  and  to  hasten  the  reign  of  justice 
and  brotherhood  upon  earth."  "We  believe,"  says  the 
manifestd  issued  in  1908,  "that  the  present  social 
system,  based  as  it  is  on  the  sin  of  covetousness,  makes 
the  ethical  life  as  inculcated  by  religion  impracticable, 
and  should  give  way  to  a  social  system  founded  on  the 
Golden  Kule  and  the  Eoyal  Law  of  the  Kingdom  of 
God,  ^Thou  shalt  love  thy  neighbor  as  thyself,'  which, 
tealized  under  the  cooperative  commonwealth  of  So» 
cialism,  will  create  an  environment  favorable  to  the 
practice  of  religious  life." 

If  the  Christian  Socialist  Movement  is  decreasing  in 
efficiency  and  is  being  replaced  by  a  Socialism  often 
making  claim  to  be  a  religion,  may  not  its  disappearance 
as  an  active  force  be  due  just  to  the  fact  that  its  under- 
IjFing  basis,  its  search  for  "a  centre"  as  Maurice  put 


The  Religious  Ethical  Movement 


33 


it  which  would  afford  a  "ground  for  men  to  stand 
upon"  has  proven  too  narrow  a  plank  to  hold  all  men  ? 
It  is  of  necessity  constrained  to  give  way  to  a  move- 
ment, which,  without  regard  to  any  metaphysical  back- 
ground, does  afford  such  foothold  to  all. 

We  may  not  agree  with  those  who  proclaim  Socialism 
a  religion,  but  we  must  agree  with  the  spirit  of  it 
which,  forsaking  a  limited  centre  and  a  short  radius, 
invites  all  to  cooperate  in  behalf  of  an  end,  no  matter 
how  they  differ  in  regard  to  a  beginning. 

The  point  which  the  Fellowship  has  in  common  with 
the  original  Christian  Socialism,  is  its  stand  that  the 
Christian  life  as  lived  by  Jesus  is  the  only  way  to  solve 
the  present  social  difficulties.  By  quoting  the  words  of 
Christ  in  favor  of  Socialism,  the  Christian  Social  Fel- 
lowship hopes  to  win  the  Church  to  Socialism.  The 
point  of  difference  between  the  Christian  Socialism  of 
Maurice  and  that  of  the  Fellowship  is  that  the  former 
hoped  to  win  Socialism  to  Christian  life  and  thus  to 
solve  the  economic  and  industrial  problems,  whereas 
the  latter  hoped  to  win  Christianity  to  Socialism  and 
in  this  way  to  solve  these  same  problems. 

In  this  one  respect  Socialism  is  stronger  than  the 
religious  movement.  It  is  more  inclusive  than  the 
latter.  "If  uniting  into  one  great  movement  all  the 
strange  elements  of  humanity,  subduing  all  racial  and 
religious  hatred  and  distrust  were  \he  only  achievement 
of  the  Socialist  movement,  I  should  confidently  assert 
its  claim  to  be  counted  among  the  greatest  spiritual 
forces  of  the  world,"  ^  says  John  Spargo.  "The  spirit 
of  Socialism,"  says  he,  "cries  out : 

'1  am  Eeligion  and  the  church  I  build, 
Stands  on  the  sacred  flesh  with  passion  packed; 

*  J.  Spargo— T^e  Spiritual  Significance  of  Modem  Socialism,  p.  30. 


34    Three  Types  of  Practical  Ethicd  Movements 

In  me,  the  ancient  gospels  are  fulfilled — 
In  me  the  symbol  rises  into  fact.' "  ^ 

lirotherhcKKl  and  solidarity  are  the  bases  of  social 
we  must  indeed  confess  that  Socialism  has  more 
inner  potency  toward  it  than  religion;  for  it  gives 
greater  promise  of  solidarity  than  religion  at  present 
gives.  But  solidarity  and  brotherhood  are  only  partial 
and,  therefore,  defective  tests  of  social  life.  The  very 
effort  and  partial  success  of  Socialism  in  the  guise  of 
the  Christian  Socialist  Fellowship  to  capture  the  church, 
is  evidence  of  its  greater  inclusiveness.  That  it  makes 
the  attempt  to  do  so,  is  again  evidence  that  it  is  free 
from  the  exclusiveness  which  is  so  prominent  in  the 
Church.  "The  Christian  Socialist  Fellowship,"  says 
John  Spargo,  "is,  in  fact,  not  a  Christian  Socialist 
organization  at  all.  For  there  are  Jews  among  its  mem- 
bership and  even  agnostics  and  atheists."  ^ 

Because  it  is  not  hampered  by  the  short  radius  that 
incloses  in  its  circumference  of  fellowship  only  men 
of  certain  beliefs,  it  is  more  likely  to  win  in  the  long  run, 
the  adherence  which  seems  so  futile  and  elusive  a  task 
to  Christian  Socialism.  "God's  view,  strange  to  say," 
says  Sir  Oliver  Lodge,  "must  be  more  akin  to  that  of  the 
plain  man  than  to  that  of  the  philosopher  or  statit- 
tician." 

(b)      Christian  Socialism  from  the  University  Chair 

It  is,  indeed,  an  encouraging  sign,  and  one  that  prom- 
ises to  do  much  toward  settiing  the  social  and  industrial 
problems,  to  hear  the  voice  of  theologians  raised  in  sym- 
pathetic note  with  the  movements  for  general  improve- 
ment.   While  few  venture  to  identify  the  church  activi- 

*  Jobn  Spargo— 7^e  Spiritual  Signiflctmce  of  Modem  SodaU^m,  p.  26. 


The  Religious  Ethical  Movement 


35 


ties  with  municipal  problems  such  as  improved  housing, 
or  sewers,  or  recreation  centers,  and  breathing  spaces  for 
the  poor;  or  with  industrial  problems,  such  as  problems 
of  the  living  wage,  employer's  liability  and  state-insur- 
ance; or  with  the  economic  problems,  such  as  the  price 
of  the  necessities  of  life  and  the  cost  of  transportation, 
the  greater  number  of  churchmen  view  these  move- 
ments with  hearty  approval,  even  though  on  the  ground 
that  the  Church  is  a  spiritual  organization  they  do  not 
commit  it  to  supporting  them. 

While  the  church  has  not  enlisted  in  these  positive  re- 
forms because  they  are  outside  of  its  sphere  of  activity, 
it  takes,  however,  a  very  decided  stand  against  a  social 
order  which  is  nothing  more  than  a  "competitive  com- 
mercial industrialism,  with  profits  as  incentive  to  action, 
and  private  possession  of  the  productive  tools  and  oppor- 
tunity as  its  goal."  ^  The  cry  against  this  social  order 
is  quite  loud,  and  it  is  fittingly  the  cry  of  the  church ; 
for  the  church  claims  dominion  over  the  spirit,  and  it  is 
the  grasping  spirit  that  prompts  and  maintains  this  con- 
dition. In  antagonism  to  greed,  in  sympathetic  devo- 
tion to  the  welfare  of  people  the  church  is  to-day  doing 
valuable  service.  All  this,  as  a  modern  church  program, 
dates  from  Maurice. 

What  specific  form  this  program  of  social  reform  is 
to  take  is  the  bone  of  contention  and  a  diflScult  task 
no  less  for  the  churchmen  who  occupy  university  chairs 
than  for  statesmen.  Some,  when  confronted  with  the 
immensity  of  the  problem,  say  that  the  church  is  com- 
mitted to  no  specific  program,  that  the  establishment  of 
the  Kingdom  of  God  is  the  only  church  program,  that 
"there  is  disappointment  in  store  for  the  man  who  looks 
to  Jesus  for  specific  teachings  as  to  reforms,"  ^  that 

I  Sf H7~^?f*^L^^^***>^*  ^  *^^  ^^M  of  Chrigtian  Ethics,  p.  4f, 
Shatter  Matthews— 7^^  Social  TeacMng  of  Jeaus. 


I 


Si   Three  Types  of  Practical  BihicaZ  Movements 

^'sociology  and  political  economy  were  just  as  far  outside 
of  Ms  range  of  thought  as  organic  chemistry  or  the  geog- 
raphy of  America."  ^ 

And  yet  we  cannot  mm^  pfoclaim  ait  ideal  in  order 
to  advance  it  We  must  have  a  specific  program  to  act 
fti  a  lever  that  will  lift  society  even  a  short  way 
toward  the  ideal.  Indeed  our  remoteness  from  the 
Kingdom  is  due  largely  to  uncertainty  over  the  next 
step  that  leads  towards  it  Can  we  positively  say  that 
Socialism  is  that  next  step  ?  If  we  could,  we  would  by 
this  time  have  realized  it  just  as  we  have  realized  the 
abolition  of  slavery.  Socialism  has  surely  hem  agitated 
for  as  long  a  time  as  was  abolition. 

Indeed,  a  program  viewed  merely  as  an  end,  is 
neither  good  nor  bad.  For  a  program  is  a  path  or  a 
method  by  which  an  end  is  arrived  at,  and  is  good  or 
bad  not  in  itself,  but  relatively  to  that  end  alone.  This 
is  implied  in  the  statement  of  Jesus:  "Why  callest 
thou  me  good — ^none  is  good  save  the  Father  that  sent 
ma"  The  meaning  of  this  can  be  grasped  significantly 
only  as  applying  to  the  distinction  between  an  end  and 
the  spirit  that  manifests  itself  in  achieving  that  end. 
Any  program  as  an  end  is  neither  good  nor  bad.  To 
the  spirit  that  realizes  and  achieves  the  program,  and 
to  it  alone,  properly  belong  the  terms  good  and  bad. 
The  spirit  and  the  end  which  it  realizes,  are  one  and  the 
same  reality. 

Likewise  it  is  with  any  social  and  political  program. 
Our  municipalities  are  now  debating  the  commission 
plan  of  government  Are  we  sure  that  its  adoption  will 
evoke  nobility  of  spirit  ?  Is  it  not  just  as  likely  to  evoke 
more  subtle  craftiness  in  evading  restrictions  to  selfish 
greed,  which  the  commission  form  of  government  is 
intended  to  abolish  ?    Are  we  so  sure  that  a  small  Board 


aw,  Bauschenbuscli — ChrUtianity  and  the  Social  Crisis,  p.  47. 


The  Religious  Ethical  Movement 


37 


of  Education  will  be  better  than  the  present  large  one,  or 
that  the  recall  of  judges  will  benefit  the  masses  ?  The 
agitation  for  a  change  is  not  prompted  by  the  certainty 
that  the  new  form  will  be  better.  Eather  it  is  prompted 
by  the  knowledge  that  the  present  is  bad  and  by  the  hope 
that  the  trial  of  the  new  will  lead  to  a  better. 

Experience  is  experiment.  Experiment  even  in 
physical  science  never  indicates  beforehand  the  nature 
of  the  result ;  much  less  can  it  indicate  in  social  science 
the  reflex  effect  that  the  result  will  have  upon  the  spirit 
that  prompts  the  experiment.  To  watch  and  wait  for 
this  effect  is  a  costly  and  often  a  dangerous  procedure. 
National  solidarity  is  not  easily  set  into  motion  to 
remedy  a  wrong  step  once  taken;  and  those  of  us  who 
are  so  absorbed  in  the  social  solidarity  that  we  refuse 
to  put  our  foot  forward  unless  our  neighbors  put  their 
feet  forward  at  the  same  time,  find  the  approaching 
march  toward  the  Kingdom  slower  than  the  snail's 
pace.^ 

It  is  along  the  line  of  a  detached  spontaneity  of  life, 
now  and  then  reaching  a  high  level  in  the  field  of  ethics, 
that  contemporary  discussions  of  social  problems  from 
the  religious  point  of  view  proceed.  These  discussions 
come  mainly  from  the  Theological  Chairs  of  our  uni- 
versities, and  would  that  the  voices  that  are  engaged  in 

fkl^"®^^'**^  ^®**  ™®°  o'  t^i^s  age,  Thomas  Davidson,  whom  I  had 
!?fi/**??  fortune  to  know,  fully  convinced  of  the  sloth  that  Ues  In 
«^i2f  u^'*?®^^^®l  **  ™*y  ^®  ^^^^  *ts  strength,  refused  to  be  ham- 
RS^^i  Vu  ^^^  .cumbersomeness  of  social  solidarity  and  lived  his  own 
SSi  hi«  iffn^^/w  i?i?  ^/if ®'  ,fP  humane,  so  social,  yet  so  spontaneous 
??««?«  ^®  *^**»„^*^®  t^^  1^«  <>'  Jesus,  it  did  not  submit  to  classi- 
•  BilJSk  *^  ^*S??  ^iP  *^  individualist ;  others,  a  socialist ;  others, 
was  "f  ^^^Ll.  ®*"^  v?*^®™'  an  anarchist.  To  aU  these  his  answer 
mnnh  h  ^^  *®?  i?!2*^5  ^l  *^  individualist  to  be  a  socialist,  and  too 
St  n!  i?^*^**"?  **^,.^^  ^'^  anarchist."  He  lived  the  life  of  the 
nVnir^rv,  ®..A  ^^}  ^^^^  ^^^^  ™^»  movement  to  put  into  motion  any 
SocLUS;  Jlt^^/'*l^i*''^f.'*  ^'.^  •^£«^«'"  ^®  "sto^  committed  to  neither 
uSiJ2ii^n4^H^  individualism" ;  he  was  neither  for  nor  against  trades 
H^  5S;r5^**»^^*^®  '^^.9^  *^e  ^*c^  ^^^  °or  of  the  poor  man  as  such. 
x^L  nJ^}^*u^^^*J^^  ^i^  "'6  was  the  revelation  of  Spirit.     His  life 

Jth'ers  wh^ltt^iv^^tt!   ^^■'''"   ''''^   ^'   '"^"^"^  ^^^^^   ""'^ 


38    Three  Types  of  Practical  Ethical  Movements 

them  were  as  clear  in  the  delivery  of  their  message  as 
they  are  in  genuine  sympathy  and  in  enthusiastic  readi- 
ness to  guide  the  public  in  its  effort  to  solve  the  long 
standing  social  problems!  The  trend  of  these  discus- 
sions is  towards  a  better  grasp  of  the  meaning  of  social 
life  and  to  a  fuller  elucidation  of  its  concept. 

What  the  concept  social  involves,  the  university  men 
maintain,  is  best  taught  by  Jesus.  This  is  the  burden  of 
the  ethics  of  the  chair.  The  prevailing  opinion  is  that 
it  does  not  imply  economic  socialism.  But  the  n^ation 
of  economic  socialism  does  not  mean  the  exclusion  of 
a  social  attitude  and  the  reign  of  selfish  individualism. 
The  concepts  social  and  individual  are  commonly  con- 
sidered mutually  exclusive.  It  is  an  error  to  consider 
them  so.  Socialists  most  frequently  fall  into  this  error, 
an  error  due  no  doubt  to  the  all-absorbing  importance 
which  the  economic  life  has  for  them.  Because  the 
vocational  life  uses  up  so  much  of  our  time,  the  pur- 
suit of  a  livelihood  dominates  all  other  pursuits  and 
seems  to  them  unsocial  if  it  is  not  conducted  in  the 
manner  of  the  old  time  hunting  expeditions,  fitted  out 
with  dogs,  horses,  tally-ho,  etc.,  and  if  the  products 
are  not  similarly  shared  in  common.  The  concept  in- 
dividual is  thus  confounded  with  selfishness,  and  the 
concept  social  with  altruism. 

The  object  of  the  Christian  Socialism  of  the  Univer- 
sity Theological  Chairs  is  to  show  the  fallacy  of  such 
suppositions.  It  shows  that  the  life  of  Jesus  did  not 
admit  of  any  classification.  It  aims  at  harmonizing 
socialism  and  individualism.  To  understand  the  solu- 
tion of  the  problem  as  offered  by  the  University  Theo- 
logians we  must  analyze  the  philosophy  of  Maurice's 
ethics,  from  which  they  all  take  their  start.  The  Chris- 
tian Socialism  of  Maurice  implied  that  the  individual- 
ism of  Jesus  is  necessarily  social;  that  individualism 


The  Religious  Ethical  Movement 


39 


is  an  inner  natural  necessity  which  is  exhibited  in  the 
endeavor  of  each  to  preserve  and  to  conserve  his  being. 
Yet  this  inner  necessity  is  supplemented  by  an  outer 
metaphysical  social  fact — the  descent  from  a  common 
Father. 

Maurice  and  all  his  followers  seek  to  harmonize  these 
two  elemental  and  primal  facts,  one  psychologic  and 
internal,  the  other  objective  and  physical.  His  method 
of  harmonizing  is  to  give  emphasis  and  great  importance 
to  the  objective  factor.  He  thinks  that  by  pressing  for- 
ward the  Fatherhood  idea  with  its  consequent  brother- 
hood of  man,  the  subjective  conatus  in  suo  esse  perse- 
verare  will  become  reflective  and  through  the  sub- 
conscious family  tie,  brotherhood  will  possibly  prevail 
upon  the  inner  principle  to  give  up  the  pursuit  of  the 
extreme  individualism  which  that  principle  implies. 

For  the  selfishness  of  individualism  is  nothing  else 
than  the  extreme  to  which  the  fear  of  destruction 
prompts  the  inner  nature  of  the  individual  to  go.  "An 
economy  with  a  surplus  tends  to  make  us  social;  an 
economy  of  deficit  arouses  conflict  and  gives  a  dominance 
to  pain  reactions.  The  problem  of  Social  advance  is 
thus  on  its  material  side  to  keep  out  conditions  of  deficit 
and  to  get  within  the  realm  of  surplus.  On  its  psychic 
side,  however,  the  problem  is  to  keep  our  social  nature 
dominant  and  to  suppress  the  fear  reactions  that  nature 
has  implanted."  ^ 

The  objective  external  factor,  the  Fatherhood  idea, 
physically  understood,  is  intended  to  suppress  and  domi- 
nate the  subjective  and  internal  factor.  This  is  the  un- 
derlying idea  of  the  whole  Religious  Ethical  Move- 
ment. But  the  logic  of  this  position  is  not  clear  until 
we  are  shown  the  modus  operandi  whereby  the  domina- 
tion of  the  one  over  the  other  will  take  place. 

>  Patten— T/ie  Social  Basis  of  Religion^  p.  219. 


40    Three  Types  of  Practical  Ethical  Movements 

In  exhibiting  the  working  out  of  this  process  of  dom- 
ination we  have  the  history  of  Eeligion,  and  of  Chris- 
tianity as  the  evolved  Religion.  Originally  domination 
was  to  be  effected  through  fear  instilled  by  the  physical 
superiority  of  the  external  factor.  This  proved  too  weak 
for  any  lasting  domination  and  the  compelling  force  in 
the  Fatherhood  idea  was  changed  from  fear  to  love. 
Love  waa  to  stop  the  inner  endeavor  after  security  from 
going  to  the  ultimate  limits  that  alone  insure  absolute 
security  of  continued  existence.  Love  was  to  shear  the 
innate  individualism  of  its  selfishness.  Upon  this  is 
built  the  conception  of  the  Christian  Eeligion.  We 
have  thus  far  the  ontological  fact  of  Fatherhood  which 
is  mystically  conceived  as  the  Logos ;  but  its  compelling 
force  having  failed,  there  was  superadded  another  com- 
pelling force,  that  of  the  power  of  love. 

There  is  yet  nothing  necessarily  social  in  a  world 
constituted  o?  individual,  who,  thrLgh  the  dominating 
conceptions  of  Fatherhood  and  Love,  are  to  strip  them- 
selves of  the  selfishness  which  the  full  development  of 
their  inner  nature  as  conatus  in  sua  esse  perseverare 
would  imply.  For  the  concept  love  is  not  necessarily 
E  isoneept  of  the  social  relation.  The  social  relation 
involves  reciprocal  love ;  whereas  the  concept  love  may 
be  unreciprocal,  and  thus  fall  short  of  the  concept  social. 
Love  from  the  Father  towards  the  individual  may  well 
exist  together  with  an  unrequited  love  from  the  in- 
dividual towards  the  Father  and  lim  fersa  as  was  the 
case  with  Aristotle's  God. 

The  love  relation  is,  in  other  words,  not  necessarily 
a  social  relation  until  it  operates  reciprocally.  Unre- 
quited love  is  not  only  not  a  social  relation,  but  is  often 
the  very  spring  from  which  rise  up  the  most  unsocial 
acts.  This  is  evidenced  not  only  by  persons  afflicted 
with  jealousy,  but  also  by  the  Lord  Yahveh  who  in  his 


The  Religious  Ethical  Movement 


41 


wrath  threatens  all  manner  of  punishment  upon  those 
who  shall  be  guilty  of  setting  up  idols  and  graven  im- 
ages. The  jealousy  thus  aroused  in  Yahveh  gives  vent 
to  numerous  bursts  of  threats  against  the  people  who 
chance  to  prefer  another.  (See  Leviticus,  Chap.  26.) 
The  most  unsocial  acts  are  here  hurled  by  the  Lord 
against  his  chosen  people  for  his  unreciprocated  love. 
The  idea  here  presented  is  not  merely  a  conceptualistic 
idea  having  no  corresponding  relation  in  the  facts  of 
life  but  is  most  vitally  and  most  actually  a  relation  of 
facts  of  life. 

The  metaphysicians  of  the  Church  perceived  this 
well  enough  and  mended  the  concept  love,  which  in 
itself  falls  short  of  the  concept  social,  by  the  conception 
of  an  all-embracing  atmosphere  of  love,  mystically  con- 
ceived as  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  by  the  conception  of  the 
forgiven  life,  again  mystically  conceived  as  the  Christ. 
Thus  the  social  structure  of  the  religious  idea  is  com- 
pleted. For  making  life  social  and  for  the  conquest 
of  selfishness  which  individualism  logically  implies  when 
it  is  interpreted  Spinozistically  as  a  conatus  in  suo 
esse  perseverare,  there  is  needed  first,  the  authority  of 
an  external  principle,  that  of  Fatherhood ;  second,  there 
is  needed  an  all-embracing  principle,  that  of  Spirit; 
and  thirdly,  there  is  needed  a  mediating  or  reciprocal 
principle,  that  of  the  Christ. 

"The  most  difficult  of  all  religious  concepts  to  social- 
ize is  that  of  God."  ^  Fatherhood  by  itself  dominates 
through  fear  and  is  in  so  far  unsocial.  The  Holy  Spirit 
is  therefore  invoked  to  reduce  the  external  Fatherhood 
and  the  internal  individualistic  principle  to  a  common 
denominator,  and  the  reciprocal  principle,  Love,  is  to 
mediate  between  them. 

The  forgiven  life  is  the  most  important  social  element 

^Patten—Tfce  Social  BoHa  of  BeUgion,  p.  234. 


42    Three  Types  of  Practical  Ethical  Movements 

(d  the  entire  religious  conception.  When  therefore  the 
Christian  Socialist  of  the  Chair  says,  "The  basis  for 
a  Christian  ethics  is  the  forgiven  life,  working  itself 
out  in  a  transformation  of  all  ideals,^'  ^  he  puts  his 
finger  on  that  element  of  the  religious  conception  which 
is  the  essence  of  the  social  life.  This  conception  is  the 
essential  one  in  any  social  scheme.  It  must  lie  in 
back  of  all  acts  of  the  individual  to  be  truly  social 
according  to  Christianity.  That  the  Christian  Church 
has  failed  to  see  it  more  often  than  not,  is  being  fear- 
lessly pointed  out  by  the  contemporary  Christian  So- 
cialists. To  apply  to  our  industrial  and  economic  prob- 
lems the  concept  of  the  forgiven  life  and  reciprocal  love 
m  the  most  essential  principle  in  Christian  Ethics  is 
the  solution  offered  by  the  most  learned  theologians  of 
today. 

The  Professors  of  Christian  Ethics  declaim  against 
emphasizing  any  other  factor  in  religious  life,  and  yet 
they  themselves  fail  to  see  clearly,  that  the  other  factor 
which  stands  for  an  unsocial  tendency  is  precisely  that 
authoritative  external  conception  of  Fatherhood  which 
in  itself,  as  Patten  well  says,  is  the  most  diflScult  con- 
cept to  socialize  and  which  they  refuse  to  abandon  as  a 
groimd  principle.  All  conceptions  of  the  social  life 
that  involve  as  a  presupposition  and  as  an  offset  to 
individualism  the  conception  of  Fatherhood  are,  in  so 
far,  confused.  Maurice  who  laid  so  much  stress  upon  it 
in  his  social  work  failed  to  differentiate  clearly  from 
It  the  conception  and  function  of  Jesus  as  the  reciprocal 
Love,  which  alone  renders  life  social.  The  result  was 
that  he  often  confounded  the  essential  with  the  unessen- 
tial, and  that  he  made  himself  necessarily  sectarian  and 
unsocial  in  the  very  effort  to  be  social  and  to  teach  the 
social  spirit     That  this  confounding  was  the  undoing 

*  M&n—Ei9tory  of  Ethics  within  Organized  Christianity^  p.  6. 


The  Religious  Ethical  Movement 


43 


of  his  hopes  may  fairly  be  judged  by  the  shifting 
of  his  best  efforts  from  one  to  another  phase  of  socisJ 
work,  as  if  blindly  and  merely  instinctively  feeling 
his  way  towards  the  true  conception  of  the  social 
life. 

His  immediate  successors,  in  common  with  him,  saw 
the  necessity  of  finding  a  basis  for  social  life,  but  no 
more  clearly  than  he,  did  they  see  its  location.  Perhaps 
they  felt  their  bearings  a  little  better;  for  they,  espe- 
cially the  Christian  Social  Union  proved  somewhat 
nearer  right.  But  this  nearer  approach  to  the  social 
essence  was  due  not  to  any  clear  sight  of  it,  nor  to 
any  firm  grasp  of  it  in  consequence  of  this  clear  vision. 
Kather  was  it  due  to  the  negative  virtue  of  failing 
to  emphasize  what  they  nevertheless  presupposed  in 
common  with  Maurice,  namely  the  fatherhood  concep- 
tion with  the  resulting  theological  superstructure. 

Not  even  now  is  the  distinction  between  Fatherhood 
and  brotherhood  clearly  indicated  by  Eeligious  Ethical 
writers.  We  hear  much  said  about  the  Fatherhood  of 
God  and  the  consequent  brotherhood  of  men,  as  if  we 
were  to  imply  that  all  men  are  necessarily  social 
(brothers)  because  of  their  common  Father.  This  lays 
emphasis  upon  the  unsocial  element  in  order  to  point  out 
and  develop  the  social  life.  Perhaps  to  aay,  "I  and 
my  Father  are  not  one,"  will  more  truly  serve  a  social 
purpose  than  to  say,  "I  and  my  Father  are  one."  Jesus, 
when  he  became  philosophic,  proved  his  Jewish  descent. 
No  Greek  with  his  philosophic  acumen  would  have 
identified  an  ontological  external  entity,  with  a  prin- 
ciple that  serves  as  the  reciprocal  relating  activity  be- 
tween it  and  other  entities.  , 

This  confusion  of  principles  which  originally  can  be 
thus  traced  to  Jesus  has  come  down  the  ages  and  was 
repeated  again  and  again.    At  the  present  time  we  are 


44   Three  Types  of  Practical  Ethical  Movements 

just  beginning  to  untangle  the  knot  and  to  allay  the 
confusion.  It  is  this  genuine  effort  on  the  part  of 
Christian  men  to  straighten  out  doctrines  long  con- 
founded, that  is  producing  to-day  such  seething  unrest 
in  the  Church.  Men  speak  of  the  present  as  a  crisis 
in  religion,  and  attribute  it  rightly  to  the  free  discus- 
sion all  around  of  principles  and  doctrines  long  taken 
for  granted  in  the  religious  world.  "The  present  crisis 
of  the  Christian  religion  is  due  to  the  fact  that  what 
Jesus  took  for  granted,  and  what  he  taught,  and  what 
he  was — all  three  of  these  primal  Christian  forces,  have 
been  attacked  with  a  vigor,  a  skill,  and  an  effectiveness 
never  before  known  in  the  history  of  Christianity."  ^ 
Not  until  we  distinguish  clearly  between  what  Jesus 
took  for  granted  and  what  he  taught ;  and  not  until  we 
eliminate  what  he  took  for  granted  from  his  times,  and 
from  what  he  taught,  that  which  he  actually  was — 
reciprocal  love,  will  we  make  progress  in  social  ethics. 
Little  progress  in  social  ethics  can  be  expected  from 
the  religious  teachers  until  they  stress  and  reverence 
the  principle  of  reciprocal  love  which  is  the  very  essence 
of  the  life  of  Jesus. 

At  present  we  are  struck  and  amazed  by  the  hopeless 
doubt  of  writers  and  preachers  on  Christian  ethics  as  to 
whether  Jesus  taught  socialism  or  individualism,  as 
to  whether  his  was  an  economic  program  or  an  ethical 
program,  as  to  whether  his  kingdom  was  of  this  world 
m  of  another.  His  very  doctrines  are  unknown  and 
must  be  discovered  anew. 

As  members  of  a  religion  we  accept  in  our  changed 
environment  what  he  accepted  from  his  totally  different 
environment;  as  scientists  we  reject  the  very  things 
which  as  churchmen  we  accept.  As  parishioners  we 
listen  with  our  heart's  approval  to  his  ethical  teaching 

s  Ambrose  W.  Vernon— fflftJer*  Journal,  toL  9,  p.  68. 


The  Religious  Ethical  Movement 


45 


and  as  business  men  we  violate  them  on  the  slender  ex- 
cuse that  Jesus  taught  under  a  different  economic  and 
industrial  system  from  ours  and  therefore  we  cannot 
apply  his  teachings  to  our  business.  What  he  actually 
was  apart  from  what  he  accepted  from  his  environment 
and  apart  from  his  deeds,  we  scarcely  can  claim  clearly 
to  know. 

Eeligious  ethics  is  thus  fettered  at  the  outset  with 
an  unsocial  element  because  it  looks  for  brotherhood  in 
the  conception  of  Fatherhood.  But  can  men  be  brothers 
without  a  common  Father?  The  answer  is  they  must 
be  brothers  regardless  of  Fatherhood.  This  is  the  main 
thesis  that  has  so  far  been  negatively  implied  in  the 
analysis  of  Christian  Socialism.  Upon  what  positive 
basis  this  thesis  rests  must  be  deferred  for  a  later 
chapter. 

In  adopting  as  the  social  formula  the  idea  of  the 
brotherhood  of  men,  because  of  the  Fatherhood  of  God, 
Christian  Socialism  strikes  an  analogy  from  biologic 
life,  and  forgets  that  biologic  brotherhood  does  not 
mean  social  brotherhood,  though  we  should  very  much 
like  it  to  mean  that.  It  forgets  that  brotherhood  used 
in  the  social  discussions  means  merely,  reciprocal  love 
or  good-will. 

To  seek  an  answer  to  the  question  why  men  should 
be  social  and  why  they  should  trim  off  the  edges  of 
selfishness  which  their  natural  tendency  towards  ab- 
solute self-preservation  unfolds,  is  no  doubt  a  bit  of 
philosophical  curiosity  that  minds  rightly  indulge  in. 
Very  often,  however,  not  curiosity  but  intellectual  pride 
prompts  the  search  ad  infinitum  of  a  why  for  every 
what.  Many  theological  formulae  and  concepts  were 
confessedly  so  conceived.  They  were  devised  to  answer 
the  pagan  questions  and  the  pagan  objections  to  the 
Christian  world  order. 


it' 


I 


ri 


!', 


\ 


( 


46    Three  Types  of  Practical  Ethical  Movements 

Likewise  the  modem  religious  ethical  movements 
both  Jewish  and  Christian  face  the  present  industrial 
and  social  crisis  not  with  the  calmness  that  the  philo- 
sophical curiosity  which  alone  leads  to  knowledge  would 
require,  but  with  the  suddenness  that  the  heat  of  battle 
evokes  and  intellectual  pride  dictates.  Why  should 
not  men  pursue  their  own  ends  ?  you  ask.  Because  men 
are  social  animals.  Why  should  they  be  social  and  not 
pursue  their  own  ends?  Because  they  are  brothers, 
being  children  of  one  God.  This  is  the  answer  which  the 
Eeligious  Ethical  Movement  gives.  It  is  an  answer 
that  rests  on  certain  metaphysical  conceptions.  Little 
wonder  that  it  is  thus  impossible  to  be  moral  unless 
your  metaphysics  is  straight. 

But  to  have  a  metaphysics  of  any  sort  fs  a  personal 
predilection.  Therefore  to  establish  brotherhood  the 
predilection  of  some  must  be  taken  away,  and  forcibly 
too,  if  not  peaceably.  History  bears  evidence  of  this  at 
every  step.  Once  force  enters,  good-will  passes  out  by 
the  opposite  door;  and  with  its  depart,ure,  the  door 
to  social  life  is  closed. 
I  Kant's  conception  of  a  moral  life,  both  social  and 
individual,  upon  no  preconceived  notions,  is  the  sound- 
Mi  Mt  of  social  philosophy  so  far  spoken.  Instead  of 
being  the  ground  of  social  life,  the  Kingdom  of  God  is 
the  consequence  of  it.  "Yes,"  says  the  Socialist,  "that 
is  just  what  we  say.  Introduce  lie  Socialist  state  and 
the  Kingdom  of  God  will  follow  upon  it."  But  the 
Socialist  is  no  more  consistent  in  his  attitude  towards 
private  property  by  coercively  entering  upon  its  posses- 
sion, than  is  the  stand  taken  by  the  theologian  in  making 
certain  prerequisites  the  ground  for  social  fellowship. 
The  one  makes  the  Kingdom  the  source  of  the  social 
order;  the  other  makes  it  the  end.  "One  God  will  come 
with  the  economic  system.     The  unifying  forces  m 


The  Religious  Ethical  Movement 


47 


delayed  by  argument  and  controversy."  ^  Such  are  the 
alternatives  which  have  confronted  men. 

But  the  Kingdom  is  neither  beginning  nor  end.  It 
is  just  where  Jesus  had  often  put  it.  It  is  more  analo- 
gous to  a  means,  yet  not  identical  with  it.  It  is  the 
active  energy  of  the  good-will  and  reciprocal  love.  Be- 
ginning and  end  are  static  conditions.  The  social  order 
is  active  energy.  It  asks  no  "whys"  or  "wherefores" ;  it 
simply  manifests  itself.  This  is  the  life  of  the  true 
Jesus,  the  true  social  reformer. 

The  objective  practical  ideal  of  the  Christian  Social- 
ist is  the  manifestation  of  this  life  in  cooperation. 
How  fine!  When  we  ask  him  why  cooperation  is  the 
ideal  of  the  practical  life,  intellectual  pride  compels 
him  to  answer :  Because  we  are  children  of  one  Father. 
"The  Social  movement,"  says  Shailer  Matthews,  "is 
irreligious.  ...  It  eliminates  a  personal  God  from 
morals  and  the  Jesus  whom  it  honors  is  but  a  com- 
panion of  Socrates." 

It  is  evident  that  by  such  attitude  theologians  are 
bound  to  draw  a  circle  about  those  who  are  to  be  con- 
sidered brothers,  and  to  exclude  all  outside  of  it.  The 
religious  ethics  cannot  therefore  be  a  solution  of  the 
social  problems.  It  cannot  be  true  that  "Society  is  by 
nature  Christian,"  unless  by  Christian  is  meant  the 
ethical  Jesus,  the  Jesus  minus  what  he  had  accepted 
from  his  environment,  and  minus  his  eschatological 
and  metaphysical  doctrines.  "For  it  was  not  his  say- 
ings but  HimseK  that  Jesus  wanted  men  to  follow." 

The  ideas  of  Jesus  were  not  metaphysical  ones  that 
were  gotten  up  by  intellectual  pride  to  support  his 
ethics;  they  were  expressions  of  human  sympathy;  and 
his  fight  against  the  systems  of  his  day  was  entered 
into  just  because  they  beclouded  these  expressions  of 

^  Patten — The  Social  Basis  of  BeUgUm,  p.  234. 


4\ 


li'di'      ^1 


I 


jdjku   I  jIml  nil  k  h  uyiil  Jli  MliJii 


I 


48    Three  Types  of  Practical  Ethical  Movements 

it  "The  main  quarrel  Jesns  lia4  with  the  reUgious 
life  of  his  day,  was  with  the  pharisaic  conception  of 
God  as  law-giver,  and  of  the  religious  life  as  obedience 
to  an  outward  legislation  and  of  the  Kingdom  of  God 
as  the  success  of  a  selfish  temporal  and  ecclesiastical 
organization."  ^ 

If  you  accept  this  Jesus  as  the  only  true  Jesus,  then 
it  is  no  longer  necessary  to  use  the  word  Christian  as 
a  characterization  of  society,  for  the  adjective  implies 
and  makes  a  distinction ;  it  narrows  the  social  circum- 
ference; and  by  creating  the  distinction,  it  destroys 
the  very  conception  of  universal  brotherhood  which  it 
is  its  ideal  to  found. 

Christian  Socialism  in  each  of  its  several  stages 
falls  short  just  here.  It  introduces  all  the  conceptions 
that  are  implied  by  the  adjective  Christian  and,  in  so 
far  as  it  does  this,  it  falls  short  of  the  heights  attained 
by  the  ethical  Jesus.  The  metaphysical  Jesus  comes 
nowhere  up  to  him. 

The  misfortune  is  that  since  the  Christian  era  it  has 
been  the  metaphysical  and  not  the  ethical  Jesus  that 
lias  been  busy  establishing  the  Kingdom.  It  is  from 
the  metaphysical  Jesus  that  Christianity  takes  its  rise. 
All  Christian  ethics  bears  the  stamp  of  this  origin.  All 
its  efforts  at  social  and  economic  reform  are  tinged  with 
it.  All  denominational  institutions  such  as  sectarian 
orphan  asylums,  and  denominational  social  settlements 
and  Y.  M.  C.  A.'s  are  affected  by  it.  In  short  we  may 
truly  say  with  T.  C.  Hall,  "Out  of  Christian  ex- 
perience we  may  expect  a  body  of  conduct  distinctly 
bearing  the  marks  of  the  origin.  No  speculative  system 
of  ethics  can  therefore  satisfy  the  Christian  heart  and 
eonscience,  when  (note  these  words)  it  takes  no  account 

«HaU — Hiatorv  of  EtUcB,  p.  177. 


The  Religious  Ethical  Movement 


49 


of  what  to  the  Christian  believer  is  the  supreme  reality 
of  his  experience."  ^ 

The  Christian  Socialism  of  the  Chair  no  less  than  its 
predecessors  bears  the  marks  of  its  origin.  True,  it  is 
more  ready  to  give  up  all  ceremonial  forms  and  rites 
as  non-essentials  of  Christian  ethics,  but  it  clings  tena- 
ciously to  the  presuppositions — to  the  Fatherhood  idea, 
as  a  basis  of  social  ethics.  For  the  Catholic  formula 
^*extra  ecclesiam  nulla  saliis/^  religious  ethics  sub- 
stitutes ''extra  patemitatem  nulla  salus/^ 

Social  conduct  refuses  to  be  hedged  in  either  by  the 
authority  of  the  Church  or  of  the  Father.  The  Ethics 
of  the  Chair  strikes  the  true  note  when  it  emphasizes 
the  loving  spirit  of  the  ethical  Jesus.  But  when  it 
digresses  to  tiie  metaphysical  Jesus  it  falls  into  the  error 
of  former  Christian  Socialists,  and  leads  to  confusion. 
Contemporary  Christian  Socialism  therefore  needs 
clearer  vision. 

Is  it  any  wonder,  when  the  learned  are  confounded 
and  perplexed  by  the  social  concept,  that  the  ignorant 
manifest  the  perplexity  by  the  manner  of  their  lives? 
Is  it  any  wonder  that  the  Christian  business  men  do 
not  live  socially  in  business,  when,  although  well  con- 
vinced of  the  existence  of  Church  and  God,  the  terror 
that  these  once  struck  no  longer  frightens;  and  when 
the  loving  God  who  replaced  the  God  of  terror  is  con- 
fusedly conceived  in  a  trinity  whose  limits  are  not 
clearly  defined,  but  whose  essence  embraces  both  social 
and  unsocial  elements  ?  Is  it  any  wonder  that  under  this 
confused  state  of  the  social  concept  the  business  man  in 
his  natural  dread  of  perishing,  somewhat  further  insures 
his  existence  by  artificially  raising  the  prices  of  food- 
stuffs and  by  turning  such  innovations  as  storage  houses 

>  BmSiatory  of  Ethicg,  p.  6. 


i. 


itii 


,„,  F 


M 


f 


1 


!  ■ 


1 


50    Three  Types  of  Practical  EfMcci  Movements 

(whose  advent  was  hailed  as  an  omen  of  the  dawn  of  a 
lower  cost  of  living  through  the  preservation  of  perish- 
able foodstuffs)  into  a  means  of  raising  prices  through 
cornering  markets  and  through  doling  out  the  product 
with  as  slow  a  hand  as  will  insure  the  large  return  which 
an  apparent  scarcity  forces  from  the  needy  ?  Is  it  any 
wonder  that  the  collective  bargaining  of  trades  unionism 
which  some  years  ago  was  a  mighty  factor  for  good  in 
combating  the  evils  of  the  capitalistic  trusts,  has  turned, 
lie  moment  it  has  become  conscious  of  its  solidarity, 
into  a  system  as  exacting  as  the  one  combated  ? 

The  one  is  no  more  social  than  the  other.  The 
solidarity  of  large  organizations  of  employees,  working 
together  for  certain  ends,  is  not  necessarily  any  more 
social  than  is  the  similar  solidarity  of  capitalistic  mag- 
nates who  work  together  for  their  own  ends.  Solidarity 
is  mistaken  for  sociality.  If  the  sugar  trust  artificially 
limits  the  output  of  sugar  to  get  larger  returns  for  itself, 
we  condemn  its  solidarity ;  if  the  labor  trust  artificially 
limits  the  supply  of  labor  in  order  to  force  upon  the 
employer,  let  us  not  say  higher  wages  or  shorter  hours, 
but  an  unworthy  laborer,  one  who  is  abusive  and  vile 
in  the  shop,  are  we  to  hesitate  to  condemn  its  solidarity 
as  unsocial  simply  because  it  comprises  a  larger  group  ? 
Solidarity  does  not  mean  social  life  any  more  than  does 
selfish  individualism.  We  wrongly  identify  solidarity 
with  social  life,  because  we  fail  to  discriminate  the 
iistinctive  factors  of  social  ethics. 

We  sing  the  praises  of  utilitarian  ethici,  wfii  its 
greatest  good  to  the  greatest  number  on  the  one  hand; 
iscl  on  the  other,  we  shout  loudly  for  the  rights  of  the 
minority.  Some  time  ago  we  identified  brotherhood 
with  the  social  concept.  The  tendency  to-day  is  to  iden- 
tify the  social  concept  with  solidarity.  "The  first  pos- 
tulate of  the  Christian  Socialist — the  ethical  basis  of 


The  Religious  Ethical  Movement 


51 


modem   social  movements — is  the   solidarity   of   the 
race.''  ^ 

But  here  we  confront  the  same  old  problem  as  to 
what  constitutes  a  race.  It  is  a  conventional  term  of 
undefined  boundaries,  and  these  we  often  define  to  suit 
our  selfish  ends.  As  Eoyce  says:  "The  earliest  Social 
problem  of  humanity  is  also  the  most  recent  problem. 
This  is  the  problem  of  dealing  with  the  men  who  seem 
to  us  somehow  very  widely  different  from  ourselves 
in  physical  constitution,  in  temperament,  in  all  their 
deeper  nature,  so  that  we  are  tempted  to  think  of  them 
as  natural  strangers  to  our  souls.''  ^ 

The  temptation  to  think  of  differences  as  aver- 
sions is  the  ingrained  fault  of  all  systems  that  base 
ethics  upon  solidarity  or  likeness  of  one  kind  or  another. 
It  is  bound  to  end  in  unsociability  and  in  a  spirit  of 
persecution.  High  types  of  men  of  all  stations  of  life 
fall  into  it.  It  seems  unavoidable,  for  it  is  due  to  their 
starting  point.  Perhaps  there  is  no  higher  type  of  men 
than  those  who  occupy  the  theological  chairs  of  our  uni- 
versities. Yet,  they  imavoidably  become  unsocial  in 
their  doctrines. 

This  cannot  be  accidental.  It  must  be  germane  to 
their  attitude  towards  life.  When  a  teacher  who  in  one 
place  nobly  says:  "A  Christianity  that  prefers  plans 
of  salvation  to  salvation  itself,  that  raises  definitions  of 
the  'natures'  of  Jesus  above  moral  surrender  to  the 
joy-giving  Savior,  has  always  bred  the  spirit  of  perse- 
cution," 8  says  in  another  place  that  "The  unity  of 
believers,  is  the  new  social  order,"  *  and  that  "Worth 
does  not  lie  in  the  mere  fact  that  a  man  is  a  man,"  ^ 
we  have  a  bias  that  is  traceable  to  some  fountain- 

» Rov^2^»!,7'^^^^^5  ^^  ^^erUian  Christian  Socialism. 


r 


It 


.....■■It     ,H. 

'a 


53   Three  Types  of  Practical  Ethical  Movemerds 

head,  men  from  the  man  who  says:  «In  loyalty  to  the 
gospel  lies  the  hope  of  the  church,"  we  also  hear:  I 
lanVot  see  in  ethical  teaching  pure  and  simple  whether 
it  be  in  ethical  culture  societies  or  in  evangelical  pulpits, 
any  greater  hope  than  in  a  hopelessly  outgrown  literal- 
ism and  anti-scientific  conservatism,"^  we  axe  up 
against  a  fundamental  stumbling  block. 

The  man  who  starts  with  a  doctrine  that  all  men  are 
brothers  because  they  come  from  the  s^e  Father, 
soon  makes  a  distinction  between  the  brothere.      We 
have  to  distinguish  sharply,"  says  Shailer  Matthews, 
"between  two  possible  conceptions  of  the  divme  sonship. 
On  the  one  hand  there  is  the  conception  according  to 
which  all  men  are  the  sons  of  God  in  that  they  were 
created  by  him,  possess  moral  attributes  and  are  capable 
of  rising  to  nobility  in  self-sacrifice  and  devotion-in 
a  word,  in  that  they  possess  simply  ^  virtue  of  their 
humanity  an  ineradicable  likeness  to  God  .  .  .  Un  tne 
other  hand,  there  is  the  more  intensive  conception  ot 
sonship  .  .  .  which  uses  the  word  to  express  the  more 
intimate  and  responsive  relation  with  God  actually 
enjoyed  by  those  who  are  seeking  noble  ends,  who  are 
consciously  seeking  moral  strength  from  prayer,  who 
in  a  personal  sense,  love  God  while  seeking  to  keep  his 
commandments  and  who  through  this  personal  contact 
with  God,  gain  a  new  character  which,  while  possessed 
of  the  same  powers  as  before,  is  yet  fuller  of  the  divme 
likeness  .  .  .  The  second  and  more  restricted  use  ot 
sonship  was  the  one  adopted  by  Jesus.    Jesus  reserved 
this  term  to  the  relations  of  those  persons  who  were 
members  of  the  Kingdom  of  God— who,  to  use  the 
Johannine  expression,  have  been  bom  anew.    To  extend 
the  use  of  these  terms  of  Jesus  to  all  mankind,  is  to 
confound  what  was  in  his  mind  a  possible  condition 
»  Shailer  Matthews— Tfce  Chwrch  and  the  Changing  Order,  p.  89. 


The  Religious  Ethical  Movement 


53 


with  that  which  was  real  only  in  the  case  of  far  too 
small  a  number  .  .  .  Promises  made  to  those  who  in 
this  deeper  sense  pray  to  their  Father  are  not  to  be 
transferred  to  those  who  will  not  so  pray."  ^ 

This  brings  out  clearly  the  point  insisted  upon  so 
often.  No  matter  how  moral  you  may  be,  if  you  are  not 
of  my  church  yoii  shall  not  get  the  preferment.  This 
is  the  philosophy  of  likeness.  It  rates  ethical  conduct 
below  religious  conformity,  and  the  performance  of 
duty  below  the  saying  of  prayers.^  These  ideas  pro- 
ceed from  the  University  Theological  Chairs.  It  is 
needless  to  say  that  they  represent  the  highest  thought 
of  the  Eeligious  Ethical  Movement.  They  are  full  of 
excellent  thought  in  regard  to  their  attitude  to  the 
social  problems  of  the  day,  but  when  they  seek  to  ground 
their  morals  in  religion  they  fall  far  below  their  ethical 
utterances.  The  problem  which  we  have  to  solve,  the 
problem  of  clipping  the  selfish  wings  of  individualism, 
and  of  making  the  social  dominate  it,  can  not  be  met  by 
churchmen,  no  matter  how  well-meaning  they  may  be. 

•  15"?!®'^  Matthewft— rfte  Social  Teachings  of  Jesus,  pp.  63-67. 
-  Shailer  Matthews— JTAe  Oospel  and  th7  Modem  JfoA,  p.  287. 


■j«l 


liN  I 


+1 


CHAPTER  II 

THE  SOCIAL  ETHICAL  MOVEMENT 

(I)     The  History  of  the  Movemerd 

(a)     Its  Inspvrers  and  Pioneers 

HE  Eeligioua  Ethical  Movement  which  b^an  in 
England  in  1848,  had  for  its  immediate  purpose 

—  the  establishment  of  a  better  understanding  be- 
tween the  clergy  and  the  people.  It  battled  against  the 
attitude  of  indifference  which  the  former  maintained 
toward  the  latter  upon  all  matters  that  were  most  vital 
in  this  world's  life,  the  attitude  to  their  vocation  to 
their  health,  to  their  economic  and  social  needs,  ine 
movement  from  this  point  of  view  was  a  grand  success, 
for  it  did  bring  about  a  change  m  this  attitude,  ^y 
1875  the  clergy  had  been  brought  together  with  the 
laboring  classes  and  this  mainly  through  the  efforts  of 
the  Christian  Socialists.  The  social  horizon  had  been 
thereby  widened  and  the  economic  and  industrial  condi- 
tions were  perhaps  somewhat  better  than  they  had  been 
before.  But  in  its  most  ultimate  purpose  of  changing 
By  an  appeal  to  brotherhood  in  God,  the  misery,  the  pov- 
erty, the  unsanitary  and  dangerous  habitations  to  which 
the  new  industrial  conditions  had  given  rise,  Christian 
Socialism  had  utterly  failed. 

The  home  life  and  its  surroundings,  the  needs  lor 
leisure  and  recreation  of  the  great  masses  of  workmg 

people,  were  yet  a  sealed  book  to  tie  educated  and  upper 

mm 


The  Social  Ethical  Movement  65 

classes.  The  failure  of  Christian  Socialism  in  this 
sphere  was  due,  as  we  have  seen,  partly  to  the  narrow 
limits  which  the  Keligious  Ethical  Movements  placed 
upon  a  brotherhood  that  necessarily  drew  its  solidarity 
from  the  acknowledgment  of  the  Fatherhood  of  God, 
and  partly  to  the  inadequacy  of  the  knowledge  which  the 
middle  and  upper  classes  of  society  had  concerning  the 
home  life  and  the  social  loneliness  of  the  industrial 
classes,  thrown  together  though  these  were  in  the  same 
big  cities  and  intertwined  as  their  lives  were  in  the 
same  industrial  system. 

True,  Kingsley  in  "Cheap  Clothes  and  Nasty"  and 
in  "Alton  Locke"  had  done  much  to  spread  knowledge 
of  the  life  of  the  working  classes,  but  people  generally 
made  allowances  for  the  play  of  his  poetic  imagination 
as  they  always  do  in  fiction,  and  therefore  they  largely 
discounted  the  force  of  his  works.     "The  schemes  of 
Christian  Socialism,  their  co-operative  enterprises  were 
wrecked  on  the  shallows  of  spiritual  defect,  their  own  ig- 
norance and  the  want  of  moral  and  intellectual  prepara- 
tion of  the  working  classes."  ^     What  was  needed  was 
concrete  cold  statistical  facts  about  the  social  conditions 
of  the  masses  from  actual  touch  with  them.    There  was 
need  of  something  like  Booth's  "In  Darkest  England" 
to  give  vital  force  to  a  reform  movement,  and  that 
Christian  Socialism  was  unable  to  produce. 

Whoever  succeeded  in  revealing  the  social  con- 
ditions and  read  them  aright  would  be  most  likely  to 
ascertain  the  causes  of  the  social  evil,  of  crime  and  of 
poverty.  To  be  sure.  Socialism  was  at  that  very  time 
engaged  m  opening  up  the  problem  of  poverty  by  attack- 
ing the  generally  accepted  doctrine  of  the  Manchester 
^ehool  of  Economists,  that  poverty  is  an  unavoidable 
lactor  m  municipal  life,  and  that  therefore  it  must  be 

C.  B.  Henderson. 


if 


't    f  r 

I 


i 


hi        I 


58    Three  Types  of  Practical  Ethical  Movements 

patiently  borne.  The  Socialists  brought  home  to  the 
world  the  fact  that  if  it  is  true  that  poverty  is  unavoid- 
able then  the  consequences  that  follow  upon  the  heels  of 
poverty — ^hardships,  disease  and  crimes — ^must  likewise 
lis  tolerated,  since  poverty  is  a  prime  cause  of  the 
greater  percentage  of  these. 

The  Socialists,  especially  the  Christian  Socialists  of 
the  Guild  of  St.  Matthew,  who  were  closely  affiliated 
with  Fabian  Socialism,  thereupon  tried  to  give  a  new 
meaning  to  the  Biblical  passage,  "The  poor  ye  have 
always  with  yoU.*  They  endeavored  to  show  that  Jesus 
meant  this  to  be  taken  as  a  state  due  entirely  to  human 
injustice  and  not  as  an  everlasting  accompaniment  of 

Th©  Manchester  School  on  the  other  hand  looked  upon 
poverty  as  an  eternal  fact.  Mwmk  Professor  Giddings 
held  that  "At  all  times  a  portion  of  mankind  must  be 
relatively  useless  to  the  community  and  for  that  reason 
lelatively  poor  and  their  greatest  possible  utilization 
and  compensation  depend  upon  their  being  held  for  the 
while  in  practical  subjection  to  other  individuals  or  to 
the  commonwealth."  * 

With  such  view  of  poverty,  remedies  are  useless.  The 
best  that  could  be  done  with  poverty  was  to  state  its  case 
coldly :  and  with  such  cold  statement  the  economic  theory 
of  Kicardo  was  satisfied.  Its  redemptive  word  was 
laissez  faire.  It  follows  naturally  from  this  view  that 
each  social  class  occupied  a  certain  fixed  position  in 
society.  To  belong  to  a  certain  class,  thus  implied  of 
necessity,  to  be  honored  and  respected  or  to  be  scorned 
and  detested.  This  is  the  natural  conclusion  drawn 
from  the  Eicardian  view  of  society. 

In  offsetting  this  view  and  in  doing  away  with  the 
scorn  and  coldness  of  class  against  class  and  in  mitigat- 

t  Giddings— P%l7afit%ropy  and  Social  Progrem. 


The  Social  Ethical  Movement 


67 


ing  the  feeling  of  the  class  ostracism  which  accompanied 
poverty,  the  Christian  Socialists  were  partly  successful, 
but  the  method  they  employed  was  inadequate  to  the  re^ 
quirement  of  post-Darwinian  times.  Their  method  was 
purely  a  priori.  They  lacked  a  detailed  acquaintance 
with  the  condition  of  the  poor  which  accurate  investiga- 
tion alone  could  afford.  They  were  not  scientific.  They 
employed  deductive  reasoning  on  the  social  evils  even 
after  Darwin's  theory  of  evolution  had  been  firmly 
grasped,  and  therefore  they  fell  into  errors. 

Nor  were  the  upper  and  educated  classes  equipped 
with  better  methods. 

Though  the  submerged  tenth  had  been  shunned  by 
the  educated  and  upper  classes,  these  latter  had  never- 
theless been  laboriously  theorizing  and  constructing 
theoretical  legislation  on  the  problem  of  poverty  and  on 
the  economic  and  industrial  phenomena  which  they 
were  looking  at  only  from  the  surface.  The  real  phe- 
nomena were  veiled  from  their  view  by  their  social 
aloofness  from  the  very  masses  whose  conditions  were 
either  a  very  great  puzzle  to  them  or  else  a  thing  taken 
for  granted  as  natural,  in  accordance  with  the  Biblical 
teaching  in  regard  to  the  poor. 

During  the  latter  part  of  the  19th  century,  a  move- 
ment arose  which  was  free  from  the  defects  that  crippled 
the  efficiency  of  the  ethical  movement  of  the  middle  of 
Je  century.  It  threw  off  the  limits  which  the  Eeligious 
Ethical  Movement  put  upon  fellowship,  and  got  into 
close  touch  with  the  working  classes,  by  living  as  nearly 
as  possible  their  life.  This  movement  is  the  Social 
l^thical  Movement.  It  was  scientific  and  yet  not  pos- 
sessed of  the  laboratory  coldness.  It  started  like  its 
predecessor,  in  England;  and  owed  its  initial  impetus  to 
the  teaching  of  such  men  as  Thomas  Hill  Green,  J.  E. 
breen,  and  J.  Euskin.    It  was  a  university  movement 


»'h 


ji 


'  I 


'I 


i 


58    Three  Types  of  Practical  Ethical  Movements 

rather  tlian  a  cirarch  movement,  although  churchmen 

were  its  pioneers.  Ti^:„,„  i„ 

Inspired  by  John  Kichard  Green,  Edward  Demson  m 
1867,  a  truly  heroic  type  of  man  began  to  assail  the 
hydra  of  ignorance,  filth  and  vice  of  the  crowded  section 
of  East  London.  He  hired  small  quarters  m  the  densest 
place  and  patiently  studied  the  conditions  of  his  ^n 
surroundings.  Wherever  he  could,  he  ^eHf '  ,  ^^^ 
the  state  functions  were  not  enforced  owing  to  the  ina(> 
tivity  of  officials,  he  prodded  the  lax  inspectors  and 
forced  results  from  them  by  the  sheer  weight  of  his  per- 
Bwiality.  But  like  a  pioneer,  he  stood  alone,  and  fight- 
ing without  the  added  strength  which  the  social  force  of 
even  a  decrepit  institution  affords,  he  succumbed  to  an 

early  death.       .  ,  i  m      i  n 

Se  was  followed  in  1875  by  Arnold  Toynbee  a  pnpd 
of  Kuskin  at  Oxford.  Toynbee,  it  has  been  said,  w^^^^^^ 
have  founded  a  Church  Order  had  he  lived  in  the  Middle 
Ages,  for  his  was  an  inspiring  personality,  tbe^™ 
nf^  which  radiated  through  those  who  touched  it  and 
passed  on  to  others  beyond  them.  He  entered  whol^ 
heartedly  into  whatever  he  undertook;  whether  it  was 
bSldS/a  road  under  Euskin's  direction  or  teaching 

history  to  those  who  were  d^^^^^^/^^  *^^^^^j^^ 
vice,  earnest  application  marked  his  efforts.  In  1875 
he  spent  the  summer  vacation  in  Whitechapel,  one  of  the 
most  thickly  settled  and  one  of  the  most  miserable 
districts  of  London.  Whitechapel  was  m  the  parsonage 
of  S.  A.  Bamett,  and  to  him  Toynbee  turned  for  assis- 
tance and  information.  He  made  a  strong  impression 
upon  Canon  Bamett  whose  help  and  encouragement 
hrsecured.  His  influence  was  soon  felt  throughout  the 
district.  He  became  the  friend  of  his  neighbors,  per- 
ceived their  condition,  and  turned  his  attention  to  the 


The  Social  Ethical  Movement 


59 


if! 


industrial  and  economic  theories  of  the  day,  with  a  view 
of  correcting  from  first  hand  knowledge  theories  whose 
foundations  were  not  laid  upon  actual  experience  with 
the  laboring  classes. 

Toynbee  introduced  a  new  formulation  into  plans  for 
social  amelioration,  which  differed  from  that  of  the 
Christian  Socialists.  The  latter  strove  to  turn  industrial 
civilization  to  a  recognition  of  the  fact  that  the  central 
pivots  of  that  civilization  were  God  and  man,  and  that 
all  else,  profits,  prices,  rents,  hours  of  labor,  were 
secondary  and  dependent  upon  the  theory  of  the  relation 
of  man  to  God.  Maurice  and  Kingsley,  the  founders 
of  Christian  Socialism,  were  of  the  a  priori  type  of  re- 
formers. They  applied  to  the  problems  which  arose 
from  the  industrial  revolution,  a  theory  which  had  its 
origin  in  the  Bible  and  not  in  the  phenomena  of  the  life 
of  the  workers,  whose  struggles  they  little  knew. 
Maurice,  for  instance,  summed  up  the  evils  of  the  times 
in  the  word  "Competition'^  and  the  remedy  in  the  word 
"Association" — a  remedy  which  he  drew  from  his  re- 
ligious belief  in  the  Fatherhood  of  God. 

Denison  and  Toynbee,  the  founders  of  the  Social 
Ethical  Movement,  were,  on  the  other  hand,  of  the  a 
posteriori  type  of  reformers.  Imbued  with  the  scientific 
spirit  of  investigation,  they  took  up  their  residence 
close  to  the  subjects  of  investigation,  in  the  poorest 
quarters  of  the  City,  and  in  this  way  got  into  first  hand 
acquaintance  with  the  facts  of  the  social  problems.  As 
a  result  of  his  investigations  Toynbee  thus  summed  up 
the  social  situation :  "The  welfare  of  the  producer  was 
as  much  a  matter  of  interest  to  the  consumer  as  the 
price  of  the  product." 

This  is  a  new  way  of  stating  the  case,  and  it  rested 
on  sound  investigation  of  industrial  affairs.    Again  and 


► 


111 

i 


Ml 


60   Three  Types  of  Practical  Ethical  Movements 

again  has  this  open  avowal  of  the  social  interrelations 
been  corroborated  through  sad  experiences.  The  infec- 
tious diseases  of  the  sweatshop  garment  maker  have 
been  carried  to  the  homes  of  the  ladies  of  fashion  who, 
though  somewhat  concerned  over  the  prices  of  their 
garments,  had  not  been  very  much  disturbed  over  the 
welfare  of  the  worker.  Social  solidarity  of  rich  and 
poor  has  been  brought  home  to  the  millionaire's  palace 
by  the  diseases  that  are  the  result  of  social  conditions ; 
and  this  solidarity  was  stated  not  in  terms  of  the  relation 
between  man  and  God,  but  in  terms  of  man  to  man. 

The  Social  Ethical  Movement  sets  forth  the  relation 
of  man  to  man  in  the  industrial  order  as  essentially  a 
feciprocal  relation,  which  it  is  futile  and  even  suicidal 
for  wealth  and  education  to  ignore.  The  intensive  study 
0f  social  phenomena  which  the  new  movement  made 
possible,  has  revealed  much  more  strongly  than  it  had 
hitherto  been  possible  to  reveal,  how  vitally  connected 
all  men,  regardless  of  rank  or  station,  really  are.        ^ 

The  Religious  Ethical  Movement  and  the  Social 
Ethical  Movement  have  no  doubt  the  same  ultimate 
goal,  but  their  methods  are  different.  Nor  must  it  be 
supposed  that  the  Social  Ethical  Movement,  because 
its  method  is  scientific,  therefore  looks  coldly  upon  the 
facts  and  rests  with  merely  stating  them.  The  pioneers 
of  the  Social  Ethical  Movement,  Denison  and  Toynbee, 
were  like  Maurice  and  Kingsley,  ardently  bent  upon 
doing  away  with  the  evils  about  them ;  they  directed  all 
the  energy  of  their  lives  towards  changing  the  conditions 
and  diverting  the  causes  that  are  responsible  for  human 
misery.  It  is  this  latter  attitude,  rather  than  their 
intensive  a  posteriori  investigations,  that  makes  their 
movement  an  ethical  movement.  The  new  Social 
Ethical  Movement  is  at  once  an  ethical  movement  and 
a  sdentific  movement. 


The  Social  Ethical  Movement 


61 


Historically  it  traces  its  descent  back  to  the  Working- 
men's  College  founded  by  Maurice  after  the  failure  of 
his  co-operative  schema  From  the  idea  of  a  Working- 
men's  College,  sprang  the  idea  of  University  Extension, 
and  from  the  idea  of  University  Extension,  it  was  but 
a  short  Btep  to  University  Settlements. 

(b)    Its  Institutionalization 

The  initial  stage  of  a  reform  movement  is  marked  by 
the  personal  enthusiasm  of  its  prime  movers.  What 
such  movement  lacks  at  its  incipiency  in  clear  formula- 
tion of  its  doctrines,  it  more  than  makes  good  in  the 
whole-hearted  devotion  of  its  adherents  to  the  cause  and 
supplies  energy  enough  for  a  time  to  enthuse  their 
successors. 

With  such  devotion  were  the  foundations  of  the 
Social  Ethical  Movement  laid  out  by  Edward  Denison 
in  1867,  and  by  Arnold  Toynbee  in  1875,  that  their 
individual  efforts  among  the  poor  during  the  summer 
vacations  quickly  inspired  others  to  follow.  "Toynbee's 
share  of  the  movement,"  we  are  told  by  Mrs.  Bamett, 
"was  at  Oxford,  where  with  a  subtle  force  of  personality, 
he  attracted  original  or  earnest  minds  of  all  degrees, 
and  turned  their  thoughts  or  faces  towards  the  East  End 
and  its  problems." 

Denison  and  Toynbee  fought  out  single-handed  their 
convictions  in  regard  to  social  reforms,  and  the  work 
was  too  much  for  them.  Even  though  their  sojourn  in 
Whitechapel  was  but  for  a  few  weeks  during  tiie  vaca- 
tion, their  strength  was  sapped  and  they  succumbed 
after  a  brief  period  of  activity. 

Their  individual  efforts  were,  however,  supplanted 
by  concerted  efforts.  With  the  commencement  of  con- 
certed efforts  at  reform  we  may  date  the  period  of  the 


k^. 


Ul 


I 


h 


it   Three  Types  of  Practical  Ethical  Movements 

iBstitutioiializatioii  of  the  Social  Ethical  Movement. 
And  in  this  institutionalization,  the  Social  Ethical 
Movement  simply  followed  the  trend  of  the  times.  ^ 

This  is  an  age  of  combination  and  centralization. 
Capital  and  labor  have  both  centralized  and  organized 
their  activities.  Philanthropists  have  followed  the  line 
pursued  by  the  capitalists  and  the  laborers.  They  have 
pooled  their  resources.  The  Settlement  with  its  head 
workers  and  residents  is  simply  a  manifestation  of  the 
same  tendency  carried  over  to  the  purposes  of  ethical 
propaganda.  It  is  a  collective  attempt  to  improve  life 
by  improving  its  conditions. 

The  term  Settlement  is  a  significant  name  for  the 
Social  Ethical  Movement  Historically,  the  term  is 
applied  to  a  group  of  men  who  leave  their  honie  and  take 
up  their  abode  away  out  on  the  frontiers  of  civilization, 
and  live  a  life  quite  different  from  that  to  which  they 
were  accustomed.  It  is  exactly  in  this  sense  that  the 
term  is  used  in  the  Social  Ethical  Movement.  It  desig- 
nates a  group  of  men  who  migrate  from  the  comforts  of 
their  homes,  situated  on  clean  streets  amidst  a  cultured 
neighborhood,  and  who  take  up  their  new  homes  amidst 
dirty  streets  and  uncultured  neighbors,  because  they 
are  impelled  "to  eliminate  by  disregarding  them,  the 
unreal  and  artificial  barriers  of  class  and  station  and  to 
work  together  for  mutual  good  as  one  community  on  the 
basis  that  the  real  good  of  the  individual  and  of  society 
must  be  one."  ^ 

The  chief  organizers  and  formulators  of  the  Settle- 
ment movement  in  England  have  been  Canon  and  Mrs. 
i.  A.  Bamett,  the  founders  of  Toynbee  Hall,  the 
first  Settlement.  In  America,  Stanton  Coit  and  Jane 
Addams  stand  oml  most  prominently. 

»1L  Q.  Starr— Settlementa  and  the  Church's  Duty,  p.  4. 


■|' 


The  Social  Ethical  Movement 


63 


How  the  individual  efforts  of  Denison  and  Toynbee 
were  converted  into  collective  efforts  and  how  their 
brief  duration  through  the  vacation  season  became  a 
permanent  vocational  pursuit  is  thus  told  by  Mrs.  Bar- 
nett:  "In  June  1883,  we  were  told  that  some  men  at 
Cambridge  were  wishful  to  do  something  for  the  poor. 
Mr.  Bamett  was  asked  to  suggest  some  way.  He  wrote 
a  letter  suggesting  that  men  might  hire  a  house,  where 
they  could  come  for  short  or  long  periods,  and,  living  in 
an  industrial  quarter,  learn  to  ^sup  sorrow  with  the 
poor.'    That  letter  founded  Toynbee  Hall."  ^ 

Canon  Bamett  suggested  a  concerted  plan  of  attack 
upon  social  conditions  in  Whitechapel,  of  which  parish 
he  was  vicar,  and  it  was  taken  up.  Ever  since  1872,  he 
had  been  enlisting  young  Oxford  men  in  practical  re- 
search along  the  lines  of  social  problems.  Funds  were 
procured,  a  building  was  erected  and  the  first  social 
institution  whose  object  was  ethical  reform  became 
a  fact  by  the  end  of  1884.  In  honor  of  Toynbee,  whose 
death  occurred  in  1883,  it  was  named  Toynbee  Hall. 

Toynbee  Hall  was  an  association  of  educated,  well 
meaning  men  who  migrated  from  wealthy  families  and 
healthy  surroundings  and  took  up  their  abode  amidst 
the  poverty-stricken,  unsanitary  and  socially  diseased 
communities  of  the  East  End  of  London  with  the  object 
of  mitigating  or  of  removing  the  causes  that  are  respon- 
sible for  such  communities. 

Toynbee  Hall,  according  to  one  of  its  reports,  is  ^^an 
association  of  persons,  with  different  opinions,  and 
different  tastes ;  its  unity  is  that  of  variety ;  its  methods 
are  spiritual  rather  than  material;  it  aims  at  permea- 
tion, rather  than  at  conversion ;  and  its  tmst  is  in  friends 
linked  to  friends  rather  than  in  organization.^^     This 

^Bamett — Towards  Social  Reform^  p.  246-247. 


I 


64   Three  Types  of  Practical  Ethical  Movements 

is  the  first  institution  of  its  kind;  an  association  of  peo- 
ple based  on  their  differences,  and  having  for  its  object 
the  recognition  and  appreciation  of  differences  in  others. 
Toynbee  Hall  has  become  the  pattern  of  Social  bettie- 
ments  throughout  Europe  and  America.  Its  idea  is  that 
^e  solidarity  of  human  kind  is  manifested  by  the  re- 
ciprocal functioning  of  its  parts;  that  the  settlers  gain 
from  their  neighborhood  as  much  as  their  neighborhood 
gains  from  them.  The  Settlement  stands  for  fellowship 
despite  the  differences  that  exist  among  men  in  regard  to 
nationality,  religion  and  race.  "It  must  be  grounded 
in  a  philosophy  whose  foundation  is  the  solidarity  of 
the  human  race,  a  philosophy  which  will  not  waver, 
when  the  race  happens  to  be  represented  by  a  drunken 

woman  or  an  idiot  boy."  ^  ,111/ 

In  the  applic^ion  of  this  philosophy,  a  knowledge  of 
the  causes  that  produce  social  ills  must  necessarily  be 
sought  out,  and  these  social  ills  must  be  shown  to  be  the 
matural  consequence  brought  upon  society  by  society  s 
meglect  of  its  members.  Investigation  of  social  condi- 
tions became  the  first  move  of  the  Settlement. 

This  specific  attitude  as  applied  to  social  phenomena 
spread  with  wonderful  rapidity.    Within  two  years  after 
lihe  opening  of  Toynbee  Hall,  the  movement  was  transr 
planted   to   America,    where,   with   the   founding  by 
Stanton  Coit  of  the  Neighborhood  Guild  in  1887  in 
Forsyth  Street,  and  of  the  Hull  House  in  1889,  by  Jane 
Addams,  there  began  a  career  of  Settlement  planting 
that  promises  to  fulfill  the  wish  of  Stanton  Coit  for  a 
Settlement  to  each  10,000  of  the  population.    We  seem 
now  to  be  approaching  Kuskin's  idea  of  having  an  over- 
seer or  bishop  over  every  hundred  families  of  the  State 
who  shall  have  care  of  their  interest  and  conduct.    Set- 
tlements have  not  been  confined  to  cities  alone.    Socially 

^Jane  Addams. 


TJie  Social  Ethical  Movement 


65 


isolated  mountainous  communities  have  had  their  needs 
for  social  centers  satisfied.  Hundreds  of  Settlements 
now  exist  in  England  and  in  the  United  States,  whose 
studies  have  resulted  in  bringing  to  light  facts  which 
furnish  the  material  for  a  new  social  science,  and  for 
more  intelligent  legislation  upon  the  problems  of  con- 
gestion, lighting,  sanitation  and  the  social  evil. 

The  Settlements  have  moreover  assumed  and  in  part 
tried  to  fulfill  the  social  needs  for  recreation,  associa- 
tion and  education  of  the  impoverished  community 
wherein  they  are  located,  and  thereby  applied  either  a 
harmless  vent  for,  or  an  effective  check  to  the  forces 
causing  the  social  evils  of  our  time-    This  work  was  so 
highly  appreciated,  that  the  city  authorities  have  taken 
over  much  of  it,  and  now  the  public  purse  pays  for  a 
great  deal  of  social  work  that  was  formerly  paid  for  by 
private  individuals.  A  city  now  acknowledges  as  its  own 
the  function  of  providing  recreation  for  its  inhabitants. 
With  recreation  piers  on  the  water  fronts,  with  play- 
grounds in  the  parks,  with  game  rooms,  club  rooms, 
literary  clubs,  athletic  associations,  libraries  and  penny 
banks  in  our  schools,  the  function  of  the  privately  main- 
tained Settlements  have  nearly  all  been  shouldered  by 
the  State.    If  the  system  of  the  resident  workers  as  a 
peculiar  feature  of  the  Settlements  is  yet  impracticable 
in  the  schools,  at  least  an  approach  to  it  is  recommended 
in  the  form  of  visiting  teachers,  who  will  perform  in 
large  measure  the  function  of  resident  and  visiting 
nurses.     Eecreation  centers  on  the  roofs  of  tenement 
houses  are  now  strongly  urged  upon  the  community. 
The  need  for  association  and  adult  education  is  likewise 
being  supplied  by  the  city  through  clubs,  evening  schools 
and  lecture  centers.    All  these  functions  now  assumed  by 
the  public,  trace  their  origin  to  Toynbee  Hall. 

The  Settlement  has,  with  the  handing  over  to  the 


66    Three  Types  of  Practical  Ethical  Movements 

citv  of  a  Kreat  part  of  its  foncdon,  almost  made  itself 
a  useless  institution,  which  it  promises  soon  to  become. 
B«t  this  is  the  surest  indication  that  it  was  founded  on 
the  soundest  human  needs,  and  has  met  them  in  the 

"^The'Te^wo  classes  of  peopTe  f^o  feel  the  n^ 
of  Settlements:  those  who  establish  them,  and  those  for 
whom  they  are  intended.     The  need  that  is  felt  on  the 
Bert  of  those  who  found  them  is  splendidly  analyzed  by 
jTne  Addams  of  Hull  House,  the  most  philwophic  ex- 
twnent  of  the  Social  Ethical  Movement,  in  her  article 
S  the  Subjective  Needs  of  Settlements.     She  groups 
Lm  under  three  heads:  "The  first  contains  the  desire 
to  make  the  entire  social  organism  democratic,  to  extend 
democracy  beyond  its  political  expression;  the  second 
is  the  impulse  to'share  the  race  life  and  to  bring  as  much 
as  possible  of  social  energy  and  the  accumulation  of 
civiUzation  to  those  portions  of  the  race  which  have 
little ;  the  third  springs  from  a  certain  renaissance  ot 
Christianity,  a  movement  towards  its  early  humanir 
tarian  aspects."     These  are  the  impulses  which  drive 
a  Bamett  or  a  Stanton  Coit  or  a  Jane  Mdams  to  found 

a  Settlement.  ,         ,  •  x    i«j 

On  the  other  hand,  those  for  whom  they  are  intended, 
lie  dwellers  in  neighborhoods  that  lack  the  opportuni- 
ties which  the  full  development  of  life  requires,  feel  a 
strong  need  for  something  which  to  them  is  undehned, 
perhaps  because  their  uncultivated  powers  are  unable 
to  define  it ;  but  the  need  is  nevertheless  there  and  is 
felt.     Briefly,   this  need   which  the   poverty-stricken 
dwellers  of  the  congested  neighborhoods  feel,  may  be 
summed  up  in  this  sentence :  they  feel  the  need  for  social 
justice,  without  which  their  development  is  stunted. 
They  feel  their  desire  for  the  beautiful  stunted  by  the 
ugly  sights  about  them;  their  longing  for  education 


The  Social  Ethical  Movement  67 

suppressed  by  the  long  hours  of  toil  that  leave  no  energy 
for  intellectual  labor;  their  social  instinct  is  checked 
by  their  loneliness  in  the  very  midst  of  a  seething 
throng  of  human  beings.  All  these  needs,  which  are  ex- 
pressions of  the  pent-up  energy  of  their  inmost  nature 
seeking  for  self-expansion,  are  choked  by  the  social  in- 
justice of  the  times.  Their  subjective  necessity  for  the 
Social  Settlement  is  the  feeling  that  there  is  a  larger 
and  more  desirable  life  from  which  they  are  shut  out. 
The  Settlement  supplies  that  larger  and  more  desirable 
lite  which  the  lowest  in  the  slum  feel  a  longing  for. 

We  thus  see  there  is  a  need  for  Settlements,  felt  both 
by  the  Settlement  worker  and  by  the  dweller  in  neigh- 
borhoods which  are  unfavorable  for  his  development; 
and  that  need  is  reciprocal.  The  slum-dweller  on  the 
one  hand  feels  that  his  life  is  but  a  fraction  of  what  life 
might  be  and  mean.  The  settlement  worker,  on  the 
other  hand,  feels,  as  Jane  Addams  says,  the  social  in- 
justice involved  in  refusing  to  share  social  life  with 
the  people  whose  political  life  we  put  on  a  level  with 
our  own,  and  desires  to  set  matters  right  on  this  scora 
ile  also  feels  that  niggardly  nature  has  been  less  kind 
to  the  slum-dweller  than  to  him,  and  the  moral  impulse 
comes  upon  him  to  make  good  from  his  own  fuller  store 
ot  cuiture  and  civilization,  what  circumstances  have, 
been  so  chary  in  bestowing  upon  his  fellow.  His  life 
though  fuller  IS  not  the  complete  life  unless  it  takes  into 
account  the  stunted  lives  of  the  crowded  sections  of  the 

S  JaJ^  ^  ™''*''^^  ""^^  ^^^*5  a^d  this  mutual 
need  linds  objective  expression  in  the  establishment  of 
Social  Settlements. 

The  Social  Settlement's  marvelous  growth  bears 
witness  to  the  needs  which  it  fulfills.  It  satisfies  the 
dear  y  defined  longings  of  the  patrons  or  founders  and 
the  Ill-defined  longmgs  of  those  who  are  packed  in  the 


!::!i:1 !iill!il''!!!iiiliilllllliil!liiJililllU:!!!l'!!:!llll:u. 


I 


68   Three  Types  t^  Practical  Ethical  Movements 

tenement  house  sections  of  the  cities.  The  Settlement 
is  the  cement  that  binds  together  the  nch^d  the  poor. 
It  is  the  bridge  by  which  communion  between  these 

classes  is  made  possible. 

The  slum-dweller  must  surely  possess  an  active  moral 
conscience  to  resist  the  pressure  that  ten^  to  burst 

the  social  fetters  violently  a^«°<i«V^'l  ^^.'^^Sll^ 
their  prison  longings  that  seek  such  worthy  fulfillment 
as  is  hnplied  in  the  desire  for  recreation  and  culture 
Indeed,  the  State,  largely  through  the  influence  of  the 
Settlement,  has  come  to  let  up  m  the  severity  of  its 
punishment  for  violations  of  social  je^tnctions.  The 
young  rowdy  and  the  hooligan  are  first  pooled,  then 
ilac^  into  a  reformatory  or  given  an  mdetennmate 
Sentence,  mainly  because  the  State  assumes  that  the 
offender  was  so-  hampered  by  his  social  environment 

.that  if  holds  itself  partially  ^esP?^^^^^^^^^'^  JfJ!! 
to  mitigate  the  offender's  pumshment.  The  btate 
"rtually  punishes  itself  by  the  risk  which  it  thus  incurs 
in  letting  the  culprit  go  free. 

The  Settlement  exists  to  set  right,  m  part,  the  wrongs 
which  social  injustice  brings  about.     It  aims  to  give 
the  pent-up  spirit  a  chance  to  expand.    Its  social  rooms 
and^eading  rooms,  its  musicals  and  dances,  its  clubs 
and  societies,  its  art  exhibits  and  lectures,  its  gymna- 
siums and  baths,  its  libraries  and  classes,  its  mdustnal 
museums,  its  labor  centers  and  its  manual  training 
shops  are  all  so  many  artificial  vents  through  which  the 
pent-up  energy  might  be  set  free  and  afterwards  ex- 
pand naturally.  .  .  ^  -•     ^u^ 
The  Settlement,  in  playing  tlie  part  of  a  vent  for  the 
imprisoned  human  nature,  serves,  in  fact,  at  the  same 
time,  as  a  prop  and  support  of  the  State.  Many  a  strike 
that  would  have  caused  violent  disruption  in  the  com- 
munity has  been  settled  through  the  agency  of  tie 


The  Social  Ethical  Movement  69 

Settlement  which  was  enabled  to  mitigate  the  threat- 
ened violence  only  because  it  had  won  the  trust  of  the 
people  through  its  services  in  behalf  of  their  inner 
longing  to  expand  and  through  its  efforts  in  behalf  of 
outer  freedom. 

The  trust  won  by  the  Settlement  was  the  fruit  of 
years  of  patient  waiting.     The  neighborhood  does  not 
soon  flock  to  the  Settlement ;  for  a  friend  is  not  easily 
made.     Mistrust  must  first  be  rooted  out;  for  when 
years  of  suffering  from  social  injustice  have  hardened 
sufferers  who  had  been  often  betrayed  by  those  who 
posed  as  their  leaders,  it  is  no  easy  matter  to  win  their 
confidence.    The  first  idea  the  Settlement  evokes  in  the 
mind  of  an  East  Side  mother  is  that  the  Settlement  is 
a  missionary  movement  aiming  to  win  away  her  chil- 
dren from  the  religion  of  their  parents.    The  East  Side 
father  again  looks  upon  the  Settlement  as  a  capitalist's 
scheme  for  softening  the  righteous  anger  of  the  poor, 
lie  f^rs  lest  a  secret  impulse  may  be  lurking  behind  the 
f^cnfices  which  the  Settlement  workers  make  in  his 
behalf.    All  these  prejudices  must  be  overcome,  and  it 
requir^  tact  and  patience  to  overcome  them. 

Originally  the  Settlement  started  with  no  definite 
program.     It  had  no  clear  cut  plan  of  satisfying  the 
needs  that  it  came  into  existence  to  satisfy.    It  relied 
on  the  personality  of  the  Settlement  workers  to  adopt 
^°y  ,P  ^^  ^^*  circumstances  approved.     No  beliefs 
whether  political  or  religious,  were  expressed.    The  life 
of  the  worker  alone,  not  his  opinion  or  his  creed,  was 
to  be  a  guiding  light.     By  examples  of  personal  and 
domestic   cleanliness,   of   gentlemanly    politeness    and 
inner  sincerity  the  dweller  in  the  neighborhood  was  to 
be  attracted  as  to  a  shining  light  and  be  lifted  up.    Ee- 
markably  near  are  we  in  this  to  the  naive  attitude  of 
J  esus.    Here  again  Jane  Addams  touches  the  soul  of  the 


li 


it 


70    Three  Types  of  Practical  Bfhkat  Movements 

from  trutli  and  action  in  generai    He  himself  caUed  it 

'  Thtt^im^^^^^^  exemplified    this    prmcip^^^ 

eliSti  the  best  that  was  in  the  nexgh^^^^^^  and 
fonnd  that  in  a  short  time,  the  neighborhood  itselt  tur- 
ned twkers  and  freed  the  SeUlem-^^^^^^^ 
dependence  upon  Universities  for  their  leaders.  Such^ 
fofinstance,  was  the  case  with  the  University  Settle- 
^en^S  Ne;  York  shortly  after  its  first  d^de  ^  e^ 
istence  This  is  proof  of  healthy  vigor,  a  vigor  which 
^  as  toon  as'the  Settlement  cea-  ^T^^ 
adaptability  which  Jesus  employed  m  dealing  with 

'"^Therr^^^       much  that  is  vivid  and  captivating  in  a 
liovement  at  its  incipiency    and  we  so  feel  our^lv J 
part  of  the  living  force  that  stirs  it  on,  and  «>  whole^ 
Tefrtedly  do  wl  imagine   that  we  are  ?ontnbu^^^^^ 
towards  its  furtherance,  that  our  activity  m  its  behdf 
knows  no  fatigue.    At  this  stage  of  the  movement   we 
find  the  cooperative  principle  most  nobly  exemplified, 
and  genuine  democracy  the  prevailing  form  of  govern- 
ment!   In  the  launching  of  something  new,  whether  it 
be  the  formation  of  a  religious  order,  or  the  organization 
of  a  benevolent  society  or  of  a  labor  union,  or  the  erec- 
tion of  a  new  church  or  hospital  or  the  establishment 
of  a  summer  camp,  we  are  sure  to  find  a  hearty  c^^^ 
Ho!i  and  enthusiasm  that  surmounts  all  dithculties  ana 
carries  the  work  to  completion.^     The  numbers  that 

•  Several  clubs  of  an  Educational  Society  ?^  t}V^„  ^^f  n.^Sge«^  and 

New  York  desired  to  open  a  fS'^^J^^J,?.^,?^^  i^li^eH^^^  ^^^ 

finding  a  deserted  house  in  the  outskirts  of  Statenisianai  u 

suitable  but  impracticable  because  j'  ^h^^f  |„i*  ch?ckeSl  in  It  and 
(the  previous  occupant  had  housed  nis  g^J^^  n?  vearsf  nevertheless 
the  floors  were  inches  thick  with  a  Jeposlt  of  y^l^^J  "^^^^ye  aur- 
rented   the   place.     The   manner  in   which    the   oDsi^cies   were 


The  Social  Ethical  Movement 


71 


engage  in  it  may  be  few  or  many,  but  each  counts  him- 
self a  vital  factor,  not  a  dead  tool  in  the  process.  This 
self-esteem  is  highly  important. 

(c)      The  Danger  Involved  in   Institutionalization 

This  spirit  of  cooperation  characterizes  the  pre-insti- 
tutional  stage  of  a  movement,  before  it  has  settled  down 
to  a  fixed  program  and  before  it  has  set  up  precedent 
as  an  image  of  worship.  When  the  institutional  stage 
sets  in,  a  new  spirit  also  enters.  At  the  present  time  we 
shower  so  much  praise  upon  nicely  organized  move- 
ments ;  we  so  readily  support  the  machine-like  charity 
that  works  "scientifically"  and  the  machine-like  school 
that  works  to  any  prescribed  "method"  which  its  spon- 
sors claim  is  related  to  some  psychological  principle, 
that  it  behooves  us  to  call  attention,  by  way  of  contrast, 
to  the  spirit  operative  in  the  pre-institutional  stage  of 
a  movement 

The  established  institutional  systems,  with  their  or- 
ganization and  mechanism  are  fondly  clung  to,  because 
they  are  scientific — and  it  is  stylish  nowadays  to  be 
scientific.  We  overlook  the  fact  that  the  term  scientific 
applies  not  to  a  mere  status,  not  to  a  mere  arrangement 
of  parts  in  an  organism.  The  mere  arrangement  is  an 
aesthetic  fact,  which  properly  entitles  an  institution,  or 
an  organization  to  be  called  beautiful,  but  not  neces- 
sarily scientific.  The  term  scientific  applies  to  the 
functioning  spirit,  and  not  to  arrangement  of  parts. 

We  very  often  confuse  function  with  arrangement 
of  parts.     This  is  mainly  the  case  in  institutions.     A 

?nrsS^d«v«*'lii''?h''^"**''  ""^  *^^  «P^^*  «^*t  prevailed.  On  Saturdays 
£?mmfl  &fi,  ^-"  *^1  y^"°»  °ll"  "^^^^  to  Staten  Island ;  some  brought 
H2??®iK*^^H**^®^  *^^  soap;  others,  shovels  and  pails  and  started  to 
iiS?  *nni^?^^*''  ^**^^^«-  ^^^^y  one  did  toSethii|  and  th^  will- 
nf^/*  ^?®  ^F2®  y<*"°?  ^^^  of  about  twenty-five  eave  snlendid  Droof 
aL^«Z,  t^?  ^^^®S?  ^°  ^*s  l^SS  ^as  rectified  in  hifZrms  by  scrffi 
and  scrubbing  a  floor  to  the  cleanliness  of  a  newly  planid  bolSf  ^    * 


f 


72    Three  Types  of  Practical  Ethical  Movements 

eradation  of  officers  of  an  institution  who^  functions 
Ire  prescribed  to  an  iota,  may  be  a  beautiful  arrange 
ment,  but  cannot  by  any  means  be  considered  a  scim- 
tific  operation  of  function.  Our  desire  that  the  beautiful 
arrangement  should  work  scientifically  is  certainly  a 
comm^dable  one,  but  we  forget  that  what  perhaps 
ought  to  be  "idealiter"  does  not  necessan  y  have  to  be 
'Witer."  (See  Kant  on  this  point)  The  prescribed 
duties  of  every  worker  in  an  institution,  even  if  car- 
ried out  correctly  by  every  individual  in  a  machine 
like  way,  do  not  make  the  operations  scientific,  any 
Bum  than  a  machine  can  be  said  to  be  scientific. 

Its  science  lies  in  the  individual  who  devised  the 
machine,  not  in  any  parts  of  it.     That  "^^titution  xs 
scientific  whose  individual  functionaries,  from  highest 
to  lowest,  not  only  function  their  own  parts  properly, 
hat  comprehend  the  function  of  every  other  in  the  sy^ 
tem,  and  can,  when  required,  step  into  any  place  and 
perform  its  function.     The  spirit  of  the  functioning 
method  and  not  the  mere  mechanical  functiomng  ot 
parts  constitutes  the  scientific  attitude.     To  be  scien- 
tific is  thus  to  be  organic  as  opposed  to  being  mechan- 
ical.    This  attitude  gives  vitality  to  a  movement ;  its 
workers  are  truly  cooperative,   and  not  mere  wheels 
screwed  into  place  and  ever  ready  to  get  out  ot  gear 
the  moment  the  fastenings  work  loose. 

Scientific  is  thus  a  term  applied  to  the  attitude  we 
hold  towards  an  object.  It  is  not  a  term  applied  to  an 
object.  One  must  see  a  total  view  from  each  part  ot 
the  object,  before  he  can  be  said  to  have  a  scientific  view 
of  it.  Likewise  an  Institution,  if  it  is  looked  at  as  an 
object,  may  be  beautiful  in  its  arrangement  or  m  the 
functioning  of  its  parts,  but  as  such,  it  cannot  be  saia 
to  be  scientific.    An  Institution  is  scientific  only  when 


The  Social  Ethical  Movement 


73 


the  orderly  arrangement  of  its  parts  functions  accord- 
ing to  the  methods  of  the  organic  spirit.  As  an  organ- 
ism, it  is  scientific  only  if  there  is  willing  and  not  forced 
cooperation,  and  this  is  possible  only  when  each  views 
his  operation  from  the  total  point  of  view. 

Now  it  is  precisely  this  attitude  that  characterizes 
the  early  stage  of  a  movement,  and  gives  life  and  hope 
to  It.  And  it  is  precisely  the  absence  of  this  spirit  that 
characterizes  the  later  stage  of  a  movement  and  makes 
It  formal  and  stiff  and  as  stolidly  routine  in  its  fune- 
tioning  as  are  the  daily  prayers  counted  off  the  beads 
of  a  monk. 

The  Settlement  idea  is  so  fascinating,  that  it  has 
spread  to  kindred  movements,  and  it  is  impossible  to 
treat  of  the  Settlement  without  taking  them  into  con- 
sideration.    These  kindred  institutions  are  the  chari- 
table and  the  educational  institutions.     Strange  to  say 
however,  what  the  latter  have  caught  of  the  Settlement 
idea  is  not  its  organic  spirit  but  its  mechanical  arrange- 
ment of  parts,  and  consequently  we  witness  in  these 
institutions  a  crystallization   into  a   dead  formalism 
which  was  far  from  the  intent  of  the  founders  of  the 
Settlement  idea.     This  formalism  has  had  a  reflex  in- 
fluence upon  the  Settlement,  and  now  we  behold  under 
our  very  eyes  the  three  institutions  which  are  closely 
allied  to  one  another  becoming  mechanicalized.     Let 
us  observe  the  process  going  on  at  present  in  each  of 
these  allied  institutions. 

Our  public  schools  have  already  reached  the  institu- 
tional stage,  and  are  referred  to  as  the  "system,"  mean- 
mg  the  aesthetic  characteristics  which  mark  the  orderly 
arrangements  of  parts.  They  are  lauded  highly  for 
their  "scientific"  character.  Their  achievements, 
especially  in  their  own  reports,  are  often  gloriously 


II 
ll 

i 


74    Three  Types  of  Practical  Ethical  Movements 

•'colored'*  and  the  color-blind  laity  marvel  at  the  beauty, 
mistaking,  in  their  ignorance,  the  sesthetic  arrangement 
of  parts  for  their  vital  orgaaic  functioning. 

Of  the  many  institutions  whose  purpose  is  the  better- 
ment of  social  conditions,  the  schools  were  the  first  to 
become  institutionalized.  Kousseau  and  Pestalozzi  as 
pioneers  tried  to  make  them  vital.  Their  efforts  bore 
noble  fruit,  and  therefore  they  were  imitated  and  imi- 
tated until  their  ywj  imitation  came  to  be  worshipped 

as  "method."  ^  ,       .^^  , 

It  is  "methods"  by  which  our  XJniversities  proc^ 
to  institutionalize  the  schools.  Strange  evolution  this! 
Because  some  methods,  used  by  certain  persons,  were 
fruitful,  therefore  their  methods,  used  by  any  person, 
must  be  fruitful-  This  is  the  logic  by  which  schools 
p*e  institutionalized  and  education  made  a    science. 

Not  that  there  is  no  value  in  method;  but  we  forget 

that  its  value  lies  in  the  spirit  in  which  it  is  employed, 
and  not  in  the  tactics  of  presentation;  that  not  m  the 
mere  order  and  arrangements  of  the  points  of  a  lesson 
is  found  its  scientific  aspect,  but  rather  in  the  person- 
ality that  makes  use  of,  and  vitalizes  this  order  and 

arrangement  ,        .   i?  n     m 

The  harshness  of  institutionalism  is  painfully  illus- 
trated in  the  operation  of  the  compulsory  education 
act  No  doubt,  the  highest  ethical  ^considerations 
prompt  its  promotion  as  well  as  that  of  all  child-welfare 
movements.  Yet  legislative  acts  are  very  often  mistaken 
in  the  particular  mode  in  which  they  seek  to  gam  that 
welfare.  The  compulsory  education  law  is  certainly  m 
general  a  good  act,  but  it  often  works  untold  hardship 
in  its  particular  applications,  and  then  bnn^  no^  good 
to  the  child  whom  it  was  intended  to  benefit,  simplj 
because  we  take  the  law  by  itself  without  ^nsidering 
its  relation  to  the  school  curriculum.    Very  frequenttji 


The  Social  Ethical  Movement 


75 


for  the  want  of  a  few  months  to  make  up  the  legal  age 
for  obtaining  a  w  ork  certificate,  a  boy  is  prevented  from 
coming  to  the  assistance  of  his  widowed  mother  and 
helpless  younger  brothers  and  sisters.  Will  three  or 
four  months'  detention  in  school  equip  him  with  so 
much  additional  powers  as  to  compensate  him  and  his 
dependent  family  for  the  loss  of  his  financial  help? 
1^0  one  who  knows  the  inner  workings  of  our  school 
system  can  honestly  say  "yes." 

It  is  often  argued  that  the  mother  by  keeping  him 
in  school  shows  her  motherliness  and  is  thereby  acting 
from  the  highest  moral  principles  in  so  identifying  her 
life  with  the  life  of  her  hopeful  son  as  to  suffer  tem- 
porary want  in  his  behalf.  Splendid  moral  training. 
The  theory  is  unchallengeable ;  but  to  make  the  practice 
worthy  of  the  theory,  the  efficiency  of  the  school  must 
be  taken  into  consideration.  If  the  school  were  an 
organic  and  vital  institution  whose  curriculum  and 
spirit  were  not  formal  and  stiff  but  life-breathing  and 
life-giving,  we  should  then  say:  "What  a  pity  it  is  to 
tear  a  young  boy  away  from  it !  It  is  the  duty  of  the 
mother  who  needs  his  aid  to  make  financial  sacrifices 
in  his  behalf  and  keep  him  in  school  longer.  It  is  the 
duty  of  the  State  to  be  rigoristic  in  the  application  of 
the  compulsory  education  law,  and  to  see  that  the 
schooling  is  not  shortened;  for  by  staying  in  school 
to  the  legal  limit,  the  boy  would  thus  be  compensated 
in  many  ways  for  the  financial  loss  which  his  mother 
would  sustain."  But  we  fail  to  take  into  consideration 
the  efficiency  of  the  school,  and  we  make  exertions  to 
square  a  splendid  ethical  theory  and  an  institutional 
practice — two  things  which  are  incommensurable. 

The  moment  we  do  so,  we  institutionalize  ethics  and 
detract  from  its  efficiency.  We  fail  to  see  the  relative 
value  of  things  and  become  hard-hearted  although  we 
desire  to  be  sympathetic     The  compulsory  education 


f  i    Three  Types  of  Practical  Bthied  Movements 

act  when  rigidly  applied  as  it  is  in  Wew  York  State, 
where  discretionary  power  is  withheld  from  the 
school  authorities,  works  great  hardships,  which  are 
not  warranted  by  the  state  of  eflBciency  of  our  schools. 
In  view  of  this  lack  of  efficiency,  what  we  need  is  dis- 
cretionary power  resting  with  the  immediate  superiors 
of  the  boy  or  girl,  who  know  the  conditions  both  of  the 
pupil  and  of  the  school,  to  increase  or  to  decrease  the 
legal  age  limit  for  leaving  school. 

We  trust  a  magistrate  to  give  an  indeterminate 
sentence  and  to  parole,  why  not  trust  a  school  official 
with  similar  discretion  in  regard  to  work  certificates? 
Is  not  this  failure  an  open  confession  that  our  school 
officials  are  untrustworthy;  that  they  will  abuse  their 
trust?  If  trustworthy  personality  is  so  little  in  the 
saddle  here,  what  a  commentary  upon  our  schools! 

Rigidity  even  of  a  good  law  is  unethical.  It  ignores 
relative  values,  and  thus  puts  a  false  stamp  upon  things. 
"A  good  custom  may  corrupt  the  world."  Eigoristic 
ethics  can  be  applied  only  to  individualistic  and  per- 
sonal conduct,  to  conduct  self-imposed  and  not  to  that 
of  a  social  group.  Such  an  autonomic  ethics,  when 
applied  by  an  individual  to  his  daily  life,  guides  him  to 
act  socially  and  to  consider  the  relative  value  of  his 
every  act  and  to  choose  that  one  which  is  most  in 
harmony  with  the  demands  of  life's  best  interests. 
Rigoristic  individualistic  ethics  is  thus  in  harmony  with 
tie  principles  of  Jesus. 

Rigoristic  social  ethics  often  goes  contrary  to  His 
teachings  and  to  one's  best  judgment  in  particular 
cases.  It  makes  one  untrue  to  the  requirements  of  the 
best  impulses  and  thoughts  that  are  in  him  in  order 
that  he  may  be  true  to  the  strictures  of  a  social  claim. 
Take  the  illustration  cited  above.  Social  rigor 
requires  the  boy  who  lacks  a  few  months  of  being 


The  Social  Ethical  Movement 


11 


fourteen  years  old  to  stay  in  school  although  his  help 
is  needed  immediately.  It  requires  the  mother  to  deny 
necessities  to  herself  and  to  her  other  children  on  the 
ground  that  in  so  doing  she  is  acting  from  a  higher 
ethical  principle.  It  requires  the  school  official  who  is 
best  qualified  to  decide  the  relative  merits  of  the  con- 
flicting ethical  principles  to  suppress  his  best  judgment 
in  order  to  conform  to  a  social  demand  whose  rigor  goes 
counter  to  his  conscience  in  the  very  act  of  his  comply- 
ing with  its  strictness.  Here  is  the  self-contradiction  of 
social  conduct  that  adopts  a  rigoristic  stand  which  has 
place  only  in  an  individualistic  ethics. 

Charity  likewise  has  become  institutionalized  and 
with  like  results.  The  art  of  giving  has  become  the 
science  of  withholding.  It  has  been  given  a  beautiful 
form.  A  "case"  is  referred  to  a  certain  "department" 
and  the  reference  blank,  filled  out  according  to  formula, 
proceeds  down  the  proper  channels  much  as  the  cash- 
carriers  in  a  department  store  are  whisked  along  their 
proper  paths  until  they  reach  their  destination.  The 
system  is  perfectly  beautiful;  but  by  thus  mechan- 
izing charity  its  vitality  departs.  The  philanthropist 
who  gives  through  an  impersonal  institution  is  one 
of  the  greatest  losers  by  de-personalizing  himself. 
The  ethics  of  a  charitable  act  consists  in  the  reciprocal 
benefit  derived  from  it  both  by  the  giver  and  the  re- 
ceiver. By  becoming  an  impersonal  party  to  the  act 
of  charity,  the  philanthropist  weakens  and  perhaps  to- 
tally loses  the  significance  of  the  charitable  relation  to 
himself  and  to  the  beneficiary.  In  charitable  institu- 
tions we  have  another  example  of  the  process  of  institu- 
tionalization. It  is  the  process  of  removing  personality 
as  a  factor  in  a  social  movement.  And  the  machine  that 
is  thus  created,  eats  up  the  greater  half  of  the  oil  which 
it  was  intended  to  transport  and  to  apply  as  a  balm. 


H 


m 


•*! 


ill 


18   Three  Types  of  Practical  Ethical  Movemerds 

We  are  now  witnessing  the  institutionalization 
of  Uie  Settlement  The  spirit  of  the  pioneer  isf  a^t 
ffivinff  way  to  the  mere  systematizer  and  codilier.  W  ith 
the  exception  of  Miss  Addams,  the  Bametts,  and  of  a 
number  of  others,  the  Settlement  worker  has  become  a 
professionalist  whose  vocation  is  figured  out  m  cash 
value  and  in  terms  of  mechanical  results.  Ihe  subject 
tive  impulse  towards  Settlement  work  no  longer  is  the 

primary  motive  force.  i   i*       • 

The  public  is  impressed  by  figures  and  figuring. 
Figuring  classes  and  attendances  therefore  becom^  an 
important  part  of  the  head-worker's  efforts.  It  is 
absurd,  this  manner  of  showing  the  effectiveness  of  a 
Settlement  Movement,  to  stand  with  tick-watch  m  hand 
and  click  every  time  a  person  enters  through  one  door 
and  goes  out  through  another.  In  this,  the  Settlement 
is  copying  the  school  where  we  measure  the  effectiveness 
of  classes  and  lectures  by  attendances  and  by  audiences. 
It  is  show  that  we  look  for,  and  not  genuine  result 
which,  in  a  way,  is  not  measurable. 

This  way  of  appraising  breeds  hypocrisy  and  dete- 
riorates our  morals  instead  of  enhancing  them.     Our 
schools  and  our  Settlements  are  now  measuring  theif 
success  by  figures  just  as  our  newspapers  do  by  theif 
circulation.    Figures  are  easily  manipulated.  ^^  One  of 
the  worst  evils  of  our  evening  schools  was  the  "padding 
of    the    attendance    reports"— an    evil    that    sprang 
directly  from  our  false  way  of  judging  the  success  of 
the  teacher  by  the  attendance  he  can  roll  up.    One  must 
he  acquainted  with  the  inside  workings  of  an  institu- 
tion to  feel  the  heinousness  of  the  evil  of  employing  a 
false  measure  of  value  to  the  efficiency  of  social  energy. 
It  is  then  only  that  the  discrepancy  between  the  reality 
and  the  statements  of  the  annual  report  becomes  exas- 
perating. 


The  Social  Ethical  Movement 


79 


Of  course,  all  this  does  not  detract  from  the  value  of 
the  Settlement  idea,  as  long  as  the  principles  that 
underlie  it  are  sound;  but  the  evil  of  institutionalism 
to  which  the  Settlement  is  especially  open,  frustrates  the 
purpose  for  which  it  stands. 

The  writer  has  been  engaged  for  about  ten  years  in 
the  immediate  neighborhood  of  New  York's  largest 
Settlement  and  has  not  been  able  to  note  one  marked 
improvement  during  all  these  years,  either  in  the  exter- 
nal appearance  of  the  gutters  piled  with  paper,  garbage 
and  rubbish  or  in  the  personal  cleanliness  of  thousands 
of  boys  under  observation  or  in  their  reverence  and 
respect  for  parents  and  elders. 

The  desire  which  the  Settlement  shows  of  drawing 
large  crowds  within  its  walls  and  of  thus  piling  up 
figures  in  the  annual  report,  prompts  the  workers  to 
fraternize  on  a  level  with  the  immature  minds  of  the 
young,  and  to  hold  them  by  catering  to  them  on  a  lower 
plane — a  familiarity  which  does  not  make  for  reverence. 

The  same  difficulty  now  confronts  the  Public 
Schools  which  are  crazed  with  artificially  stimulated 
athletics.  ^  How  in  the  midst  of  play  between  superiors 
and  inferiors  we  may  preserve  the  respect  which  is  due 
from  one  to  the  other,  is  our  great  problem.  The 
average  teacher  is  not  able  to  meet  the  situation, 
mainly  because  the  schools  are  now  steeped  in  insti- 
tutionalism. 

Can  the  Settlement  be  freed  of  institutionalism? 
The  solution  lies  in  the  power  there  is  in  the  supporters 
of  Settlements,  in  those  who  finance  them,  to  take  active 
part  in  the  work  of  the  Settlements,  and  in  not  standing 
aloof,  while  a  professional  worker  does  the  work  and 
makes  reports  to  satisfy  the  supporter  upon  whose  good- 
will he  is  dependent.  If  the  Settlement  is  not  to  be- 
come  a  crystallized,   dead  form  that  bears  witness, 


1  • 


80   Three  Types  of  Practical  Ethical  Movements 

merely  through  its  physical  featites,  of  the  life  that 
once  reigned  in  it,  the  supporters  of  Settlements  must, 
in  large  measure,  enlist  themselves  and  not  merely  their 
money  in  the  work.    It  is  life,  not  money,  that  counts 

in  a  movement.  .    .      i. 

The  life  that  dominates  the  Settlement  is  m  the  per- 
sonalities that  control  it.  This  is  so  self-evident  that  it 
seems  superfluous  to  mention  it.  But  when  one  views 
the  history  of  the  Settlements  not  from  annual  reports 
that  they  issue,  but  from  actual  observation  of  their 
work  and  influence,  and  when  he  finds  that  there  now 
goes  on  a  process  of  slow  crystallization  into  a  mere 
Institution  not  possessed  of  that  vitality  which  is  rightly 
attributed  to  life  alone,  it  is  time  to  call  attention  to 
the  vitalizing  principle  in  the  movement 

The  sudden  growth  of  Settlements  all  over  the  land 
has  created  a  demand  for  Settlement  workers  and  many 
respond  who  are  not  prompted  to  enter  the  field  by  the 
need  for  it  which  they  find  in  themselves  or  in  the 
neighborhood,  but  often  only  by  the  remuneration  which 
it  furnishes.  Professional  Settlement  workers  sprang 
up  who  call  and  compete  for  positions  and  care  not 
much  whether  they  are  fitted  to  supply  the  need  that  is 
felt  for  the  Settlement  ^      , 

Under  such  guidance.  Settlements  are  institutional- 
ized. A  routine  program  and  prospectus  is  followed, 
that  fails  to  mould  character— a  task  which  should  be 
tbt  chief  object  of  a  Settlement's  aims. 

In  an  ethical  movement  the  object  is  character- 
making.  The  Settlement  founder  should  realize  that 
this  is  the  aim  for  which  the  Settlement  is  founded 
and  that  he  fails  to  live  up  to  the  situation  if  he  loses 
sight  of  character-building.  He  becomes  a  mere  wor- 
shiper of  an  idea.  Such  idea-worshiper  is  as  little 
moral  as  the  mumbler  of  prayers  is  religious.     As 


The  Social  Ethical  Movement  81 

Professor  Dewey  says :  "The  question  finally  at  stake 
in  any  genuinely  moral  situation  is:  What  shall  the 
agent  be  ?    What  sort  of  character  shall  he  assume  ?"  ^ 

^  Unless  one  feels  that  he  is  serving  a  need— either 
his  own  subjective  need  or  the  objective  need  of  the 
neighborhood,  he  is  not  justified  in  entering  the  move- 
ment. The  philanthropist  who  gives  money-service 
does  not  supply  the  need.  He  gives  impersonal  charity, 
but  he  falls  far  short  of  supplying  the  need  for  which  a 
Settlement  stands.  Settlements  need  the  services  of 
their  supporters  just  as  much  as  they  need  their  money 
and  are  badly  off  unless  they  get  such  service.  How 
majestically  a  character  like  Jane  Addams  or  Canon 
and  Mrs.  Bamett  looms  up  by  comparison  with  the 
mere  financial  supporter  of  a  Settlement  or  with  the 
average  paid  worker ! 

The  institutional  stage  betokens  a  decline  in  the 
Settlement  as  an  effective  moral  agency.  The  Settle- 
ment is  the  personality  of  the  worker,  not  the  program 
of  activity.  The  same  is  true  of  a  school.  Institu- 
tionalize a  school,  plan  out  and  fix  the  program  for 
every  minute  of  the  day,  and  bind  the  teacher  to  it, 
then  the  machinery  which  you  thus  create  frustrates 
the  very  purpose  of  the  school. 

It  is  more  than  mere  coincidence  that  the  institu- 
tional school  IS  at  present  assuming  the  function  of  the 
institutional  Settlement  and  is  taking  over  most,  if  not 
all,  of  Its  activities.  Institutions  are  rivals  and  tend 
to  swallow  each  other  up;  personalities  are  living  souls 
that  strengthen  each  other  by  eliciting  the  good  that  lies 
hidden  m  each  other. 

If  the  Settlement  serves  a  genuine  need,  then  it  will 
i^ist  absorption  by  the  institutional  school.  Hull 
House,  as  long  as  Jane  Addams  lives  to  direct  it,  and 

» Dewey— Logic,  p.  210. 


83    Tfcree  Types  of  Practical  Ethical  Movemeyds 

ToynT)ee  HaH  tinder  the  guidance  of  Ae  Barnette  win 
iot  be  absorbed  even  should  all  of  their  actmtiea  be 
aimed  by  trpublic  institutions.  There,  personahty 
f^r^d  reigns^  No  program,  but  living  spirit  doini- 
nlti  Most  truly  Mrs.  Barnett  says:  "A  Settlement  s 
MnguXg  feature  is  the  absence  of  program,  ^d 
the  pfLnce  of  men  and  women  who  recognize  the 
obligations  of  citizenship."  ^  ,.  .    ^.  .     ^ 

The  argument  made  for  personal  enlistment  m  re- 
form movlments  rather  than  for  the  impersonal  pecu- 
niary enlistment  which  makes  for  institutionalization, 
^Is  for  supplementation.    Whatever  be  the  institution 
XL  one^^pports-whether  educational,  toi^bl^ 
or  social-the  ediics  of  such  support  lies  m  the  r^er 
effect  which  the  supported  one  has  upon  t^e  supporter ; 
it  lies  in  the  kind  of  man  which  the  giving  of  the  aid  to 
the  movement  makes  of  the  giver.    In  other  words,  an 
act  is  ethically  valuable  if  it  works  both  ways-on  the 
agent  as  well  as  on  the  beneficiary.     Perhaps  the  in- 
trinsic value  of  the  social  deed  lies  m  its  reflex  effect 
more  than  in  its  direct  effect  upon  the  recipient,     it 
this  truth  be  fully  realized,  the  present-day  impersonal 
attitude  of  the  supporters  of  educational,  charitable  and 
social  movements^an  attitude  that  is  largely  respon- 
sible for  their  institutionalization,— dulls  some  of  the 
luster  which  has  hitherto  shone  round  the  word  philan- 

A  movement  must  be  organized  to  become  efficient; 
yet  bare  organization  lacks  vitality.  It  has  momentum, 
but  not  living  inspiration.  It  has  the  same  kind  of 
power  which  dead  mass  has,  but  which  lacks  the  energy 
of  some  active  principle.  Many  a  worn-out  institution 
possesses  still  some  influence  long  after  it  has  ceased  to 
fulfill  its  purpose,  simply  because  of  the  momentum 

'Siiteteenth  Century  Uagazine,  December,  1897. 


The  Social  Ethical  Movement  88 

which  it  has  received  at  the  start  from  the  energy  of 
some  potent  personality.  A  movement  may  have  its 
value  even  after  it  has  been  institutionalized.  This  is 
^e  case  with  the  school  and  with  charity  organizations. 
But  the  value  it  then  possesses  is  but  a  fraction  of  the 
value  it  had  when  it  was  a  living  fountain  of  inspira- 
tion. Its  present  value  comes  from  what  it  does  for 
tiie  recipient ;  its  former  value  came  from  what  it  also 
did  for  the  promoter  of  the  movement  At  present  it 
has  mere  momentum  affecting  another,  whereas,  in  its 
initial  stage,  the  movement  had  also  active  energy  and 
affected  the  agent  as  well. 

(II)     Its  Immanent  Idea, 

The    Religious    Ethical    Movement    endeavors    to 
christianize  our  industrial  and  economic  life.     To  do 
this  means  to  apply  to  industrial  pursuits  the  ethics  of 
our  private  life.   The  Social  Ethical  Movement  endeav- 
ors to  universalize  culture  and  comforts  in  the  interests 
of  human  solidarity.   The  Religious  Ethical  Movement 
IS  an  appeal  to  the  captains  of  industry  to  stop  the 
injustice  which  produces  economic  and  industrial  ine- 
qualities; the  Social  Ethical  Movement  is  an  appeal 
to  the  industrial  toilers  to  take  advantage  of  the  oppor- 
tunities for  refinement  afforded  by  the  Settlements  and 
to  learn  from  them  the  beauties  of  culture  as  well  as  the 
home  comforts  which  personality  requires,  and  by  these 
means  to  rise  to  the  social  level  of  the  captains  of 
industry. 

This  view  is  based  on  the  assumption  that,  while 
wealth  IS  an  artificial  means  of  creating  class  distinc- 
tion, culture  IS  a  natural  means  of  offsetting  it.  Cul- 
ture is  the  balance  scale  of  wealth.  The  social  standing 
ot  the  captains  of  industry  rests  on  their  wealth  The 
social  standing  of  the  masses  must  rest  on  culture 


M   Three  Type,  of  Practical  Ethical  Movements 

Thb  is  the  theory  upon  .vhich  the  Social  Ethical  Mov^ 
ient  purposes  to  bring  about  socm  solidarity.  H 
human  solidarity  has  been  somewhat  split  upon  tie 
Sy  mass  of  wilth  which  the  industrial  revolution  of 
Z  19th  century  has  enabled  the  cjt- W^^^^'t^: 
heap  up,  the  rift  so  made  is  to  be  surmounted  oy  me 
refining  influences  of  culture.  ,     „      .  f  „„i 

The  Settlement  thus  stands  for  the  blessings  of  cul- 

t^  Christian  Socialism  and  the  S?"l«^f  ^^J* 
one  in  their  object.  Both  seek  peace  between  workers 
Zi  employers.  They  differ,  however,  in  the  means 
ihey  use"^  Christian  Socialism  P^^^^^s  with  ti^  latt^^^^^ 
be  gracious  towards  the  former;  the  Settlem^ent  pleads 
with  the  former  to  rise  to  the  standard  of  Me  of  the 
latter  This  must  not  be  taken  as  literally  but 
generkUy  true  as  an  estimate  of  the  functions  of  the  two 

^Nof  must  the  Settlement  be  thought  of  as  alto^ther 
a  meek  dove  of  peace;  for  on  occasions,  yl^^n  U  has 
found  the  captains  of  industry  ^^^^^ing  ^  *«  pl««^ 
of  iustice  it  boldly  enlisted  on  the  side  of  labor  in  its 
;'aJ  iaSsf  cTpitJ.  But  such  alliance  it  entered  in^ 
rX  when  justice  clearly  was  on  the  side  of  labor  or 

of  civic  welfare.  And  so,  when  the  «*"*«  ^"\f  S 
the  Settlement  was  held  in  greater  esteem  by  both 
parties.  In  the  words  of  Bamett,  it  "has  tended  to 
^tigate  class  suspicions,  and  helped  to  inspire  local 
government  with  a  higher  spirit." 

The  relation  between  the  two  movemmts  bere  con- 
■idered  may  be  thus  summed  up:  The  Religious  Mov^ 
ment  seeks  through  the  application  of  Chris  lan  morals 
to  business  to  spread  among  the  workers  the  c^ture 
and  comforts  which  the  employers  now  have;  the  boci^ 
Movement  seeks  through  universalizing  culture  and 
comforts  to  in^>rove  the  moral  life  of  the  workers-a 


TTie  Social  Ethical  Movement 


85 


life  which  at  present  is  not  moral.  The  argument  of  the 
former  runs  thus:  "Religious  living  will  throw  open 
to  all  the  possibility  of  obtaining  culture  and  comforts ; 
therefore  live  religiously."  The  argument  of  the  latter 
runs :  "The  spread  of  culture  and  comforts  will  make 
men  more  moral ;  therefore  establish  Settlements  which 
shall  be  centers  of  culture  and  patterns  of  necessary 
personal  and  home  comforts." 

Whatever  be  their  agreement  as  to  ends,  they  differ 
as  to  means.  The  means  employed  by  the  Religious 
Ethical  Movement  have  already  been  stated  and  wo 
have  found  how  impossible  these  means  were  of  attain- 
ing the  end.  We  must  now  examine  the  Social  Ethical 
Movement,  and  ascertain  whether  the  principles  upon 
which  the  Settlement  rests  are  any  more  valuable  as  a 
means  to  the  attainment  of  the  end. 

The  primary  principle  upon  which  the  Settlement 
rests  is  that  there  is  something  common  to  all  men,  as 
men.  This  common  something  is  the  bond  of  solidarity. 
It  alone  is  sufficient  to  unite  men.  The  Settlement 
maintains  that  no  other  bonds  are  necessary;  in  fact, 
if  there  exist  any  other  bonds  they  are  a  hindrance  to 
universal  brotherhood.  Religious  bonds  separate ;  racial 
bonds  separate ;  national  bonds  separate.  They  separate 
the  groups  so  bound  from  others  that  are  not  so  bound. 

The  basis  of  solidarity  is  reached  by  eliminating 
from  human  society  all  accidental  acquisitions. 
Wealth,  rank,  and  birth,  and  even  culture  that  takes 
pride  in  itself,  fall  by  the  wayside  in  the  process  of 
elimination;  for  all  these  make  rents  in  the  solidarity 
of  the  social  rock.  Ignore  all  differences  between  men 
and  you  will  come  to  the  element  common  to  them. 
And  you  will  find  that  this  common  element  is  the  one 
thing  that  is  noblest  in  all  men. 

Now  what  remains  after  these  differences  are  sub- 


Three  Types  of  Practical  Ethical  Movements 

tracted  is  simply  the  fact  of  liiimaii  form.  Human  form 
is  thus  the  basis  of  human  solidarity.  Upon  this  basis, 
Ihe  idiot  boy,  the  negro  mammy,  the  boorish  man,  the 
free-thinker  are  enfranchised  into  social  fellowship. 

The  view  here  presented  has  at  least  this  in  its  favor : 
The  common  is  not  an  accidental  element,  but  a  natural 
possession  of  all  men.  It  is  this  fact  that  the  human 
form  is  the  basis  of  human  solidarity,  which  makes  the 
Social  Ethical  Movement  so  universal,  and  gives  it  so 
wide  a  platform  to  stand  on.  The  Settlement  here  has 
a  tremendous  advantage  over  the  Church.  In  the  words 
of  Graham  Taylor,  "It  appeals  to  the  essential  religious 
mature  without  insistence  upon  divisive  tenet  or  eccle- 
siastic preference  upon  which  it  is  the  prerogative  of 
the  churches  to  insist."  The  Settlement  draws  to  itself 
therefore  people  who  possess  differences ;  but  it  says  that 
these  differences  are  accidental,  and  non-essential.  What 
is  essential  is  the  possession  of  that  common  something 
which  every  human  being  possesses  by  virtue  of  his 

being  human.  . 

The  Settlement  thus  ffatemizes  on  the  basis  of  the 
human  form  which  all  men  are  endowed^  with.  The 
idiot  boy  is  as  welcome  as  the  genius ;  the  ignorant,  un- 
mannered  immigrant,  as  the  cultured  and  gentlemanly 
native  citizen.  The  Settlement  is  thoroughly  demo- 
cratic. Through  it,  democracy  is  spread  far  beyond 
the  political  sphere.  "The  social  and  educational 
activities  of  a  Settlement,"  says  Jane  Addams,  "are 
but  differing  manifestations  of  the  attempt  to  socialize 
democracy,  as  is  the  existence  of  the  Settlement  itself.' 
On  this  bare  basis  of  social  solidarity,  namely,  the 
common  possession  of  a  human  form,  the  Settlement 
builds  a  social  structure  into  which  no  material  is 
allowed  to  enter  that  will  in  any  way  split  this 
solidarity.    It  adds  all  that  refines  and  uplifts— culture 


i  m 


The  Social  Ethical  Movement 


87 


and  simple  comforts;  but  such  culture  must  not  be  self- 
conscious.  Culture  that  takes  pride  in  itself  makes  a 
rent  in  the  social  structure.  Culture  that  is  humble 
ia  noble  and  refining. 

"The  Settlement  is  an  effort  to  add  the  social 
function  to  democracy,"  says  Jane  Addams.  It  en- 
deavors to  straighten  out  the  inequality  that  still  exists 
in  the  vocational,  in  the  social,  and  in  the  religious 
worlds;  and  it  purposes  to  do  this  by  emphasizing 
what  is  common  in  men.  "We  must  accentuate  the 
likenesses,"  she  says,  "and  ignore  the  differences  which 
are  found  among  the  people  whom  the  Settlement  con- 
stantly brings  into  juxtaposition."  This  accentuation 
of  likenesses  is  its  great  ethical  pride.  Yet  it  is  hardly 
clear  as  to  what  is  meant  by  accentuating  likenesses. 

We  are  told  that  "all  that  is  noblest  in  life  is  common 
to  men  as  men."  Now  if  we  lay  emphasis  on  the  com- 
mon, we  come  to  the  empty  human  form;  if  we  lay 
emphasis  on  the  noblest  we  come  to  culture  and  art. 
For  art  and  culture  are  presumably,  in  the  intent  of 
the  Settlement,  the  noblest  in  life.  Judging  by  the 
actual  practice  of  Settlements,  such  is  apparently  the 
conclusion.  Almost  all  Settlement  activities  are  artis- 
tic and  cultural.  Its  other  activities,  its  gymnasium, 
baths,  playroom,  etc.,  are  merely  drawing  cards,  tem- 
porary sweets  from  which  the  youth  is  soon  to  be 
weaned  and  then  trained  to  the  permanent  goods,  cul- 
ture and  art. 

Ifow  culture  and  art,  as  the  noblest  in  life,  are  by 
no  means  common ;  nor  are  they  means  of  arriving  at  a 
common  human  element  as  a  basis  for  solidarity. 
Culture  and  art,  even  more  than  wealth,  make  distinc- 
tions among  human  beings.  They  create  differences  of 
taste  and  differences  of  appreciation,  which,  though 
nobler,  are  as  real  differences  as  are  those  brought  about 


I 


I 


88    Three  Types  of  Practical  Ethical  Movements 

by  wealth,  race  and  religion.  Culture  and  art  tlius  fail 
as  tlie  bases  of  human  solidarity ;  and  the  common  ele- 
ment that  the  Settlement  seeks  as  its  ground  of  soli- 
darity, is  once  again  reduced  to  the  mere  possession  of 
human  form.  It  is  hard  to  reconcile  the  process  of 
eliminating  differences  and  of  simultaneously  stimu- 
lating and  instigating  art  and  culture.  The  Settlement, 
in  attempting  to  do  this,  virtually  tries  to  suppress 
differences  with  one  hand  and  with  the  other  to  empha- 
size what  it  chooses  to  call  tendencies  to  likeness  but 
which  are  nevertheless  most  profound  sources  of  differ- 

In  this  movement  as  in  the  Eeligious  Ethical  Move- 
ment we  fall  into  the  error  of  emphasizing  likeness,  and 
find  that  we  have  no  clear  conception  of  what  we  mean 
by  likeness.  The  Settlement  strips  men  and  women  of 
all  differences;  and  when  they  are  thus  stripped,  it 
says :  "Lo  and  behold,  they  are  alike." 

We  have  here  naked  form,  a  pure  Platonic  concept ; 
and  in  order  to  put  substance  and  life  into  it,  we  imme- 
diately proceed  to  reclothe  it  but  with  garments  that 
shall  reveal  no  differences.  These  garments,  art  and 
culture  are  presumably  to  clothe  all  in  such  fashion  as 
to  make  us  unable  to  discern  one  being  from  another. 
In  this  way  the  solidarity  of  the  race  is  to  be  estab- 

lished. 

But  ift  and  culture  are  neither  common  garments 
of  all  souls;  nor  can  they,  if  made  general  apparel, 
tide  differences.  They  would,  in  fact,  most  loudly  pro- 
claim differences  among  beings;  for  culture  evokes, 
rather  than  eliminates  differences. 

The  theory  that  culture  is  a  social  force  which  may 
be  employed  to  counteract  the  unsocial  force  of  wealth, 
is  a  theory  fraught  with  no  unmixed  danger.     The 


The  Social  Ethical  Movement 


89 


danger  of  this  theory  lies  in  the  idea  that  differences  are 
unsocial  forces  and  must  be  eliminated.  Culture  is 
therefore  called  into  the  field  as  a  mangle  to  smooth  out 
the  ruffles  which  differences  beget.  Now  there  are  two 
fundamental  errors  here :  first,  the  assumption  that  dif- 
ferences are  unsocial  forces  is  an  erroneous  assumption ; 
second,  the  theory  that  culture  eliminates  differences  is 
a  false  theory.  As  to  the  first  of  these,  I  must  defer 
discussion  to  the  last  chapter ;  as  to  the  second,  it  may 
truly  be  said  that  culture  evokes  differences  of  thought, 
of  appreciation,  and  of  action.  It  is  certainly  far  from 
reducing  all  men  to  a  dead  level.  The  very  interaction 
of  experiences  that  comes  from  intercourse  bdbween 
peoples  has  a  tendency  to  elicit  differences  much  in  the 
way  that  the  same  bow  passing  over  strings  of  different 
tension  produces  different  tones.  The  Settlement  is 
the  mart  where  different  opinions  are  exchanged  but 
not  necessarily  eliminated.  The  intercourse  of  human 
beings  in  the  Settlement  effects  toleration,  but  not  as- 
similation. This  is  a  highly  desirable  effect ;  far  more 
desirable  than  the  elimination  of  the  differences  would 
be.  Indeed  the  peculiar  merit  which  culture  possesses, 
is  that  it  gives  its  possessor  that  tolerance  of  differences 
which  may  afterwards  become  the  basis  of  an  ethical 
life. 

The  culture  that  comes  from  the  interaction  of  ex- 
periences is  largely  responsible  for  the  spirit  of  tolera- 
tion which  we  find  in  Settlements.  Indeed,  toleration 
is  the  great  contribution  to  social  ethics  which  the 
Settlement  movement  has  made.  As  Jane  Addams  has 
it,  "We  are  learning  that  a  standard  of  social  ethics  is 
Hot  attained  by  traveling  a  sequestered  byway,  but  by 
mixing  on  the  thronged  and  common  road  where  all 
must  turn  out  for  one  another,  and  at  least  see  the  size 


90    Three  Types  of  Practical  Ethical  Movemerds 

if  one  another's  burdens.  ...  We  realize,  too,  ihat 
social  perspective  and  sanity  of  judgment  come  only 
from  contact  with  social  experience;  that  such  contact 
is  the  surest  corrective  of  opinions  concemmg  the  social 
order  and  concerning  efforts,  however  humble,  for  its 
improvement."  ^  But  tolerance  of  differences  is  quite 
another  matter  from  elimination  of  differences. 

No  better  proof  of  the  effect  of  Settlement  culture 
as  a  divisive  force  can  be  adduced,  than  the  schism  it 
creates  in  families.  There  are  critics  of  the  Settlements 
who  look  upon  the  movement  from  a  different  pe^ 
spective  and  so  get  a  different  view  from  that  obtained 
ly  lie  Settlement  worker.  They  are  the  large  class 
nf  immigrants  whom  the  Settlement  has  not  been  able 
to  attract,  whose  ohildren  have,  however,  drunk  fully 
of  the  culture  offered  by  the  Settlement.  These  immi- 
grants accuse  the  Settlement  of  breaking  up  the  home, 
of  making  a  schism  in  the  family  through  the  very  in- 
troduction of  culture.  The  younger  members  of  the 
family  after  having  imbibed  this  culture,  forthwith  set 
themselves  up  as  judges  of  right  and  wrong,  in  relir 
gious  doctrines,  and  in  social  maimers ;  and  by  foisting 
upon  the  less  receptive  minds  of  their  elders  ideas  which 
the  Settlement  has  implanted,  the  foster  children  of  the 
Settlement  family  beget  unhealing  breaches  in  the  nat- 
ural family.  Here  is  an  instance  of  the  separation 
which  the  Settlement  causes  in  its  very  effort  to  unite, 
through  the  eflScacy  of  culture.  ^ 

This  result,  which  the  Settlement  workefTS  l^st 
looked  for,  is  no  doubt  the  effect  of  the  mistaken  notion 
that  culture  eliminates  differences  and  is  the  basis  of 
solidarity  among  mankind.  The  Settlement's  claim 
that  culture  offsets  the  artificial  differences  which 
wealth  and  rank  beget,  may  be  fully  allowed,  without 

«  Democracy  and  Bodal  Ethic9,  p.  f • 


The  Social  Ethical  Movement 


91 


our  allowing  the  other  claim  that  it  removes  all  differ- 
ences whatever,  or  that  it  is  a  basis  of  solidarity. 

The  criticism  here  set  forth,  that  the  Settlement  dis- 
rupts the  family,  is  met  with  the  claim  that  the  Settle- 
ment is  itself  a  family,  a  larger  and  more  important 
family  than  any  single  family  in  its  neighborhood. 
"By  virtue  of  certain  advantages — educational,  finan- 
cial or  otherwise,  the  Settlement  family  is  able  to  be 
neighborly  in  a  wider  and  more  effective  way  than  any 
other  families  iq   Settlement  neighborhoods."  ^ 

Whatever  we  may  think  of  the  claim  that  the  Settle- 
ment is  a  family,  we  cannot  put  this  artificial  family 
on  a  par  with  the  natural  family.  In  the  natural  family 
the  Settlement  does  often  cause  breaks,  and  for  these 
breaks  it  is  poor  amends  to  claim  that  it  unites  other 
families  that  are  drawn  to  the  Settlement  into  a  larger 
family. 

To  sum  up:  An  analysis  of  the  primary  principle 
upon  which  the  Settlement  seeks  its  basis  of  solidarity, 
leaves  us  with  naught  but  human  form — a  pure  Pla- 
tonic image — as  the  basis  of  fellowship;  and,  more- 
over, the  moment  the  Settlement  tries  to  clothe  that  pure 
form,  it  brings  forth  garments  that  emphasize  distinc- 
tion. 

There  is  a  second  principle  for  which  the  Settlement 
stands,  which  we  come  next  to  set  forth.  The  Settle- 
ment viewed  as  a  body  of  active  residents  giving  the 
best  that  is  in  them  to  their  less  fortunate  neighbors, 
hates  paternalism  as  befitting  only  private  morality,  and 
endeavors  to  foster  another  principle — ^the  principle  of 
social  morality.  The  prevailing  note  of  the  Settlement 
worker  is,  "Democratize  Society,"  just  as  the  prevailing 
note  of  the  Christian  Socialist  was,  "Christianize 
Society."    Next  after  his  efforts  to  meet  in  social  fel- 

>Mary  K.  Simkhovitch. 


1 


92   Three  Types  of  Practical  EtUcd  Movements 

lowship  all  human  beings,  the  Settlement  worker  stands 
out  for  social  efforts  to  bring  about  social  good.  This 
is  his  second  great  doctrine. 

With  regard  to  the  laboring  man,  the  Settlement 
stands  for  his  salvation  by  experience,  even  though  in 
this  way  suffering  and  pain  may  be  his  portion,  rather 
than  for  salvation  by  paternal  guidance  along  a  path 
strewn  with  happiness.    As  regards  the  philanthropist, 
it  cares  not  for  his  paternalism  but  for  his  cooperation 
in  making  his  paternalism  unnecessary.    Private  moral- 
ity without  social  morality  is  not  the  demand  of  the 
tima      ''To   attain   individual   morality,"    says   Jane 
Addams,  ''in  an  age  demanding  social  morality,  to  pride 
mne's  self  on  the  results  of  personal  effort  when  the  time 
demands  social  adjustment,  is  utterly  to  fail  to  appre- 
hend the  situation.     To  perform  too  many  good  deeds 
may  be  to  lose  the  power  of  recognizing  good  in  others ; 
to  be  too  absorbed  in  carrying  out  a  personal  plan  of  im- 
provement may  be  to  fail  to  catch  the  great  moral  lesson 
which    our   times    offer."  ^     Similarly    Prof.    Dewey 
says,  "If  the  vice  of  the  ordinary  egoist,  is  to  neglect 
the  interests  of  others,  the  vice  of  the  social  leader,  of 
the    reformer,    of    the    philanthropist    and    of    the 
specialist  in  every  worthy  cause  of  science  or  art  of 
politics,  is  to  seek  ends  which  promote  the^  social  wel- 
fare in  ways  which  fail  to  engage  the  active  interest 
and  cooperation  of  others."  ^ 

The  Social  Ethical  Movemeot  with  its  underlying 
idea  of  the  unity  of  life,  propounds,  as  part  and  parcel 
nl  its  ethical  philosophy,  a  newer  standard  of  morality 
—a  social  standard  as  over  against  the  older  individ- 
ualistic standard.  The  distinction  here  aimed  at  is 
that  the  latter  standard  was  satisfied  with  right  conduct 

*  Jane  Addams — Democracy  and  Social  Ethics. 
•John  Dewey — Ethics ,  p.  303. 


The  Social  Ethical  Mgv§ment 


93 


by  the  individual,  with  the  taking  care  of  the  "person 
under  your  own  hat,"  while  the  social  standard  is 
missionary  in  character,  and  is  not  satisfied  with  taking 
care  of  the  "person  under  your  own  hat,"  but  demands 
that  each  should  see  to  it  that  every  one  shall  be  able 
to  take  care  of  the  "person  under  his  own  hat."  It  is, 
in  other  words,  democratic ;  whereas  the  individualistic 
ethics  is  monarchical. 

Jane  Addams  in  her  book  Democracy  and  Social 
Ethics,  points  out  very  clearly  this  difference  in  stand- 
ard, by  an  illustration  drawn  from  the  great  Pullman 
strike.  She  shows  that  the  President  of  the  company 
had  the  noblest  of  motives  in  constructing  his  model 
town  and  in  managing  it  in  a  model  but  yet  in  an  indi- 
vidualistic way,  and  so  he  thought  himself  wronged  and 
was  sorelv  vexed  when  rebellion  broke  out.  She  blames 
this  philanthropic  President  for  not  having  applied  a 
social  standard  of  morality  and  for  not  having  seen  to 
it  that  the  inhabitants  of  the  model  town  who  were  his 
employees  were  reared  even  by  repeated  failure  to  a 
democratic  life — to  a  true  democracy.  The  same  view 
is  expressed  by  Professor  Hall,  who  says  "Bad  govern- 
ment that  is  training  men  for  maturity  is  better  than 
good  government  that  leaves  the  large  proportion  con- 
tented Children."^  The  only  heretic  in  the  Social 
Ethical  Movement,  we  are  told  by  Mrs.  Sim- 
khovitch,  the  Head  Worker  of  Greenwich  House,  New 
York,  is  he  who  does  not  believe  in  democracy.  "The 
only  cure  for  democracy  is  more  democracy."  This  is 
a  cry  commonly  heard  nowadays,  and  is  probably  the 
first  fruit  of  the  Social  Ethical  Movement. 

Democracy  is  to  be  established  everywhere.  In  the 
clubs  at  Settlements  we  see  a  precocious  twelve-year-old 
youngster,  with  gavel  in  hand,  guide  the  destinies  of 

» Hall — Social  Solutions  in  the  Light  of  Christian  Ethics,  p.  171. 


94    Three  Types  of  Practical  Ethical  Movements 

Ms  club,  in  accordance  with  the  laws  made  by  an  elec- 
torate constituted  of  boys  of  his  own  age.  He  imposes 
fines  and  suspensions— a  veritable  future  judge.  Thus 
we  are  teaching  him  to  be  independent.  The  schools  in 
this,  as  in  other  matters,  ape  the  Settlements.  The 
School  City  is  being  preached  as  a  substitute  for  the 
methods  of  discipline  in  vogue  in  our  schools.  At 
the  Child's  Welfare  Exhibit,  in  New  York,  one  placard 
shown  was  a  picture  of  a  "Supreme  Court  in  session  in 
one  of  the  school  cities" ;  another,  that  of  a  Senate  of 
boys;  and  still  another,  of  a  "House  of  girlsi"  all  in 
great  solemnity  debating  some  question. 

When  one  looks  at  these  pictures  one  feels  as  if  the 
millennium  has  come.  It  seems  as  if  the  children  are 
teaching  their  elders  the  democratic  ideals.  Assuredly, 
"And  a  Child  shall  lead  them"  has  already  come  true. 
Can  it  really  be  true  that  the  cure  for  democracy  is 
more  democracy?  How  strangely  the  historic  pendu- 
lum swings !  Not  so  long  ago  the  cry  of  the  Manchester 
School  of  Economists  was :  The  cure  for  individualism 
is  more  individualism — the  cure  for  competition,  more 
competition;  the  cure  for  selfish  greed,  more  greed. 
Now  the  pendulum  has  swung  to  the  opposite  extreme, 
and  the  slogan  is  more  democracy. 

We  seem  to  be  impatient  until  we  reach  the  extreme 
Hf  a  movement,  and  then  finding  that  Aristotle's  state- 
ment in  regard  to  extremes  is  verified,  we  turn  back  to 
correct  the  errors;  but  we  keep  on  correcting  until  we 
wonder  whether,  like  the  much-darned  stocking,  the 
thing  we  are  mending  is  the  same  thing  we  started  out 
to  mend.  We  started  to  mend  individualism  and  we 
altered  into  democracy. 

The  Social  Ethical  Movement  of  which  the  Social 
Settlement  is  the  physical  expression,  represents  one 
extreme  end  of  the  cosmic  pendiilimi's  swing;  and  at 


The  Social  Ethical  Movement 


95 


this  end  of  the  swing  we  preach  democracy  even  for 
children;  for  are  not  children  human  and  are  not  all 
human  forms  similar?  Why  then  should  democracy 
be  limited  at  all  ?  Away  with  the  limits ;  more  of  de- 
mocracy, and  still  more  and  fear  not  the  consequences ; 
for  the  very  failures  will  ultimately  neutralize  one 

another. 

Under  this  reign  of  universal  democracy,  how  rapidly 
experiences  succeed  each  other.  And  what  are  the 
consequences  ?  The  present  day  newsboy  of  thirteen  has 
probably  encountered  all  the  experiences  of  a  mature 
man  of  half  a  century  ago.  We  are  greedy  of  experi- 
ences, and  we  hasten  on  the  kaleidoscope.  Our  schools 
which,  according  to  our  educators,  are  fitting  our  chil- 
dren for  life,  are  here  again  at  one  with  the  Settlements 
and  they  are  certainly  hurrying  the  processes.  In  the 
purely  mental  processes  as  well  as  in  the  physical 
processes  this  haste  goes  on.  The  Courses  of  Study  are 
overcrowded.  For  must  we  not  clothe  the  naked  human 
forms,  and  clothe  them  all  alike  with  culture  and  art, 
lest  there  might  arise  differences  in  life?  And  does 
life  according  to  this  view  mean  anything  else  than  the 
process  of  clothing  the  naked  human  forms  with  cul- 
ture and  art  ?  By  no  means.  And  so  we  are  urged  to 
prepare  for  life,  and  to  hurry  to  live.  The  more  rapidly 
we  can  make  the  wheels  of  experience  turn,  the  better. 

See  what  effect  this  doctrine  has  in  actual  practice  on 
the  School,  an  institution  allied  to  the  Settlement,  and 
note  what  important  bearing  this  has  in  the  construction 
of  Courses  of  Study.  Take,  for  instance,  the  subject  of 
arithmetic.  During  the  past  fifteen  years,  the  arith- 
metical processes  have  dropped  the  grades  of  difficulty 
which  formerly  were  attributed  to  them,  and  the  very 
youngest  child  is  now  taught  them  all  at  once.  Frac- 
tions, decimals,  percentage,  all  are  given  in  mild  doses 


•«   Three  Types  of  Practical  Ethical  Movements 

to  Hid  dbild  in  the  fburtli  year.  Hasten,  hasten,  lest 
the  child  (at  fourteen)  may  leave  school  in  his  fifth 
year  and  not  have  had  the  experiences. 

Consequently  the  boy,  who  graduates  today  from  a 
public  school,  has  had  a  whiff  of  everything  that  the 
college  boy  has  had.  He  has  even  been  a  weather 
prophet,  making  charts  and  determining  the  course  of 
winds ;  he  makes  airships ;  he  sends  wireless  messages 
and  telegrams;  he  follows  the  ball-games  with  the  en- 
thusiasm of  the  "fans."  He  has  experienced  at  four- 
teen the  excitements  of  the  tournaments  and  the  athletic 
meets.  The  only  experience  he  needs  to  round  out  the 
gamut  of  life's  store  of  experiences  is  the  experience 
of  marriage.  "The  school  should  give  the  graduate  a 
wife,"  I  once  heard  a  principal  of  a  school  say,  "and  he 
will  be  fully  equipped." 

In  this  haste  to  prepare  for  "life"  the  Settlements 
take  the  lead.  I  know  of  a  case  where  the  head  worker 
of  a  Settlement  had  a  reading  circle  with  boys  of  twelve 
years  of  age  in  which  the  book  read  was  Darwin's 
Origin  of  Species.  ^  , 

In  back  of  all  these  various  activities  lies  the  notion 
that  the  young  boy  or  girl  is  capable  of  all  the  experir 
ences  that  the  grown  up  man  or  woman  experiences, 
simply  on  the  strength  of  his  possessing  the  human 
form,  which  must  be  clothed  with  similar  clothes  lest 
differences  might  creep  in,  and  with  differences  the 
inequalities    which    b^t    economic    and    industrial 

injustice. 

It  is  not  the  variety  and  multiplicity  of  the  Settlo- 
ment's  activity  that  is  here  criticised,  but  its  underlying 
basis  and  its  object  of  keeping  men  alike  to  insure 
human  solidarity.  In  so  far  as  its  spread  of  culture 
and  art  has  a  purpose,  it  may  be  said  to  be  the  offsetting 
of  the  artificial  differences  produced  by  wealth,  race  and 


The  Social  Ethical  Movement 


97 


i 


religion,  through  the  universalizing  of  culture  and  art. 
As  for  the  activities  of  the  Settlement  apart  from  its 
purpose,  there  is  no  doubt  of  their  great  value,  but  for  a 
different  reason  from  that  assigned  by  the  Settlement. 
Blindly  as  it  were,  the  Settlement  through  the  unliinited 
scope  of  its  work,  through  its  setting  aside  of  the  limits 
within  which  fellowship  is  to  be  fostered,  performs  a 
mission  and  renders  a  service  which  the  Religious 
Ethical  Movement  utterly  failed  to  equal. 

Another  pivotal  idea  of  the  movement  is  that  there 
is  an  "absolute  unity  of  the  race"  embodied  in  the  idea 
of  a  Settlement.  Its  philosophic  foundation  is  equality 
of  the  human  race — that  all  differences  are  artificial 
barriers.  These  the  Settlement  has  come  to  pull  down 
and  to  point  out  instead  the  unity  of  life.  Its  formula 
may  be  expressed  as  follows:  "The  common  bond  that 
joins  mankind  is  the  similarity  of  the  experiences 
which  life  of  itself  involves." 

In  the  literature  dealing  with  Social  Settlements, 
we  find  this  notion  approximately  expressed.  "Toynbee 
Hall  stands  for  the  way  of  Life."  ^  A  Settlement  "is 
an  attempt  to  express  the  meaning  of  life  in  terms  of 
life  itself."  ^  "All  its  effort  in  securing  labor  legislation 
is  valuable  largely  in  proportion  as  it  can  make  both  the 
working  man  and  the  rest  of  the  community  conscious 
of  solidarity,  and  it  insists  upon  similarities  rather  than 
differences."  ^ 

To  express  this  unity  of  life  and  to  nurture  it,  and 
to  present  the  total  and  not  a  partial  view  of  life,  the 
Settlement  shuts  out  all  differences  that  divide  men. 
It  therefore  is  non-sectarian,  non-political  and  co-edu- 
cational. Its  attitude  towards  all  comers  is,  "Hail, 
fellow,  well  met." 

*C.  H.  Montgomery — Bibliography  of  Settlements,  p.  55. 

«  Jane  Addams,  in  Amer.  Acad,  of  Pol.  Science,  Vol.  13,  p.  326. 

•  Ihid.,  p.  342. 


■■Ill I  iiiiiiiiMi iiiiiii niiiiii.  II  iiiiiLiliLiniiili^'.t.i'.?J5; 


98    Three  Types  of  Practical  Ethical  Movements 

The  idea  that  all  genuine  life  is  alike,  is  the  very 
doctrine  that  was  uppermost  in  the  latter  half  of  the 
18th  century.  The  Social  Ethical  Movement  has  sim- 
ply adapted  this  doctrine  to  social  problems  just  as  the 
revolutionary  movements  of  that  period  adapted  it  to 
political  problems.  For  a  long  time  this  doctrine  was 
unchallenged.  Not  until  political  organizations  based 
upon  it  failed  to  give  satisfaction,  was  it  even  ques- 
tioned. Today  it  is  confidently  denied  as  a  political 
doctrine.  However,  social  reform  still  rests  upon  it, 
and  to  social  problems  it  is  applied  with  a  sureness 
that  rivals  its  application  to  political  problems  in  the 

18th  century.  .... 

The  Social  Settlement  launches  out  to  teach  the  simi- 
larity of  life  as  enthusiastically  as  did  the  18th  century 
movement.    But  it  emphasizes  the  notion  of  similarity 
not  as  the  18th  century  movement  did  by  conceiving 
life  as  similarly  constituted  on  its  subjective  side,  but 
by  conceiving  life  as  it  ought  to  be  constituted  on  its 
objective  side,  as  a  similarity  of  opportunity  for  all  lives. 
Its  method  harmonizes  with  its  basic  principle.     It 
endeavors  to  point  out  the  solidarity  of  life,  by  em- 
phasizing the  points  of  agreement.    What  is  meant  by 
iiis  unity  of  life,  by  this  way  of  life?     Behind  the 
Social  Ethical  Movement  lies  the  idea  that  the  common 
element  running  through  life  is  the  universal  shrinking 
from  suffering  and  the  universal  pursuit  of  enjoyment. 
Its  main  aim  then  is  to  minister  to  and  support  these 
tendencies  which  all  men  have  in  common.     Suffering, 
it  endeavors  by  all  means  to  suppress;  enjoyment,  to 
encourage  and  to  put  on  a  higher  level. 

And  so  it  organizes  to  fight  for  l^slation  against 
child  labor  with  its  accompanying  horrors.  It  allies 
itself  with  trades  unions  against  the  employers  of  labor 
in  order  that  a  shortening  of  hours  and  an  increase  of 


The  Social  Ethical  Movement 


99 


wages  may  be  brought  about  It  ministers  to  the  in- 
stinct for  pleasure  by  providing  oozy  jsocial  rooms 
where  the  poor  may  be  free  from  the  discomfort  of  a 
crowded  two-room  home.  It  provides  good  entertain- 
ments and  thus  fights  the  inducements  to  low  forms 
of  pleasure  so  alluringly  held  out  in  crowded  sections  of 
the  city.  This  is  the  program  of  the  Social  Ethical 
Movement — a  program  conceived  in  accordance  with 
the  view  that  life  in  its  universal  shrinking  from 
suffering  and  in  its  universal  pursuit  of  happiness  is  for 
the  vast  majority  of  human  beings,  one  and  the  same. 

The  activity  of  the  Settlement  is  therefore  as  broad 
as  life.  No  one  scheme  suffices  to  define  it.  Graham 
Taylor  tells  us  that  "It  is  not  a  church,  but  it  is  a 
helper  of  all  churches.  It  is  not  a  charity,  but  aids  in 
the  glorification  and  mutual  helpfulness  of  all  chari- 
table agencies.  It  is  not  a  school,  but  it  is  in  tributary 
sympathy  with  the  public  schools,  to  which  it  will  give 
up  any  part  of  its  work  that  they  will  take  up.  It  is 
non-partisan,  but  has  been  a  rallying  point  whence 
the  balance  of  political  power  has  been  effectually 
wielded  in  aldermanic  and  legislative  elections  for 
nearly  a  decade.  It  is  not  an  exclusive  social  circle, 
but  aspires  to  be  a  center  and  a  source  of  the  best  social 
life  and  the  highest  civic  patriotism.  It  is  not  a  class- 
conscious  group,  but  refusing  to  be  classified  strives  to 
interpret  classes  to  each  other,  and  to  mediate  for  a 
just  industrial  peace." 

A  movement  that  refuses  to  be  classified  reminds  us 
of  the  acts  of  Jesus,  which  also  defied  classification. 
Viewed  from  the  sphere  of  its  varied  activities  we  are 
here  in  touch  with  life  itself,  with  life  not  yet  institu- 
tionalized and  fettered,  with  life  guided  by  conscience 
alone.  No  fixed  program  is  instituted.  Life  guided 
by  the  scruples  of  conscience  is  the  only  program  ad- 


100  Three  Types  of  Practtcd  Waited  Movements 

liered  to.  To  quote  Jane  Addams  once  more:  "The 
residents  of  a  Settlement  are  actuated  not  by  a  vague 
desire  to  do  good  which  may  distinguish  the  philanthro- 
pist, not  by  the  thirst  for  data  and  analysis  of  the  situa- 
tion which  so  often  distinguishes  the  'sociologist,  but 
by  the  more  intimate  and  human  desire,  that  the  work- 
ingman,  quite  aside  from  the  question  of  the  un- 
employed or  the  minimum  wage,  shall  have  secured 
to  him  powers  of  life  and  enjoyment  after  he  has  pains- 
takingly earned  his  subsistence ;  that  he  shall  have  an 
opportunity  to  develop  those  higher  moral  and  intelle<^ 
tual  qualities  upon  which  depend  the  free  aspects  and 
values  of  living.  Thus  a  settlement  finds  itself  more 
and  more  working  towards  legal  enactment  not  only  on 
behalf  of  working  people  and  not  only  in  co-operation 
with  them  but  with  every  member  of  the  community 
who  is  susceptible  to  the  moral  appeal." 

Thus  the  guiding  threads  of  the  Settlement's  activities 
are  the  changing  demands  of  life.  At  one  time  the 
Settlement  may  find  itself  establishing  culture  classes ; 
the  very  next  year  it  may  find  it  better  to  give  them  up 
and  establish  classes  for  English  to  foreigners ;  it  may 
next  abandon  these  for  clubs ;  and  these  again  for  west- 
em  agricultural  settlements.  Such  for  instance  has 
been  the  program  of  the  Educational  Alliance  in  New 
York  which,  though  not  strictly  a  Settlement  because  it 
has  not  resident  workers,  is  yet  classed  as  a  Settlement 
because  in  every  other  respect  it  does  Settlement  work. 

This  shifting  activity  is  characteristic  of  life  and  of 
living  reform  movements.  There  is  no  one  principle 
that  can  catch  and  detain  it.  No  one  formula  can  ex- 
press it.  Ear  from  being  a  sign  of  weakness,  the  un- 
fixed program  of  the  Settlement  is  its  surest  sign  of 
life  and  strength*  iThe  Settlement  that  knows  when  to 
cease  a  certain  activity  and  assume  another,  instead 


The  Social  Ethical  Movement 


101 


of  competing  with  the  public  educational  institutions 
after  these  have  assumed  the  work,  is  a  wide  awake 
Settlement. 

A  survey  of  the  Social  Ethical  Movement  has  revealed 
the  following  points :  The  Settlement's  main  purpose  is 
to  establish  the  solidarity  of  the  human  race.  It  pro- 
poses to  do  this:  1.  By  universalizing  culture  and  art; 
2.  By  carrying  this  out  not  in  a  paternalistic,  but  in  a 
democratic  way;  3.  By  pursuing  a  democratic  method, 
because  there  is  a  unity  of  life  that  runs  through  all 
human  beings  who,  prompted  by  this  unity  of  life, 
are  best  able  to  work  out  their  own  salvation.  Splendid 
as  this  theory  offhand  seems,  we  must  bear  in  mind 
that  there  is  a  weakness  in  the  Settlement  Movement, 
which  militates  against  its  permanence;  not  a  weak- 
ness in  its  principle  of  universal  fellowship,  but  in 
its  basis  of  fellowship,  and  in  the  aim  of  its  activity. 
This  hidden  weakness  often  comes  to  the  surface  in 
the  manifestation  of  strange  and  unexpected  results 
from  the  activities  of  the  Settlement  Movement. 

For  instance,  in  order  to  teach  the  solidarity  of 
life  through  culture  and  art,  the  Settlement  finds  itself 
somehow  constrained  to  teach  it  by  pointing  out  con- 
trasts. In  fact,  its  whole  method  of  procedure  is  to 
bring  clearly  to  the  attention  of  the  neighborhood  the 
difference  between  the  Settlement  building  and  the 
neighboring  houses ;  the  Settlement  way  of  doing  things 
and  the  way  in  which  the  homes  in  the  neighborhood 
do  them.  The  Settlement  is  established  to  be  the  com- 
mon home  of  the  neighborhood — a  larger  home,  one  of 
which  families,  as  well  as  individuals,  are  constituents. 
The  frequenters  of  the  Settlement  are  expected  to  draw 
lessons  from  the  contrast  between  the  common  home 
and  the  private  home.  To  the  youth  who  enters  the  Set- 
tlement building,  the  latter  seems  indeed  an  island 


Three  Types  of  Practical  Ethical  Movements 

amidst  a  vast  sea  with  apiparently  aH  tlie  cSfferences  that 
obtain  between  two  such  natural  bodies  brought  out  in  a 
striking  contrast.  The  Settlement  is  clean  and  light  and 
warm.  The  thousands  of  homes  surrounding  it  are 
neither  clean  nor  light  nor  warm.  The  faces  at  home  are 
care-worn;  those  in  the  Settlement  radiant  with  con- 
tentment. The  similarity  of  life  on  which  the  ethics  of 
the  Social  Movement  rests,  is  conspicuously  absent  in 
liiis  contrast.  Certainly  so  far  as  the  material  side  of 
life  is  concerned,  the  separateness  of  life  and  not  its 
solidarity  is  brought  out.  Nor  is  the  similarity  on  the 
spiritual  side  of  life  evident.  When  one  reads  the  pam- 
phlet of  the  Greenwich  House  Settlement  describing 
the  spiritual  life  of  one  of  the  Alleys  in  its  neighbor- 
hood, he  cannot  but  feel  the  vast  differences  that  mark 
the  forms  of  human  life.  If  spiritual  life  consists  in 
moral  conduct,  surely  we  have  very  little  similarity 
between  that  of  the  Greenwich  House  and  that  of  its 
neighbors.  Efforts  at  finding  similarity  are  futile 
unless  perhaps  the  efforts  at  finding  similarity  in  the 
mere  constitution  of  the  so-called  mental  faculties,  i.  e., 
the  power  that  expresses  itself  in  thinking,  in  mani- 
festing emotion  and  in  exercising  volition.  Nor  are 
these  spiritual  forces  by  any  manner  of  means  so  simi- 
lar in  individuals  as  to  warrant  us  in  aflBrming  the 
similarity  of  life.  Men's  intellectual  capacities  cer- 
tainly differ.  So  do  their  emotional  natures  and  like- 
wise their  ability  to  achieve  things.  When  we  disregard 
degrees  of  intellectual,  volitional  and  emotional  attain- 
ments, what  is  universal  in  the  possession  of  these 
powers?  How  the  mere  possession  of  these  powers, 
marked  though  their  contrasts  are,  can  be  a  principle 
0f  social  union  among  men,  is  hard  to  see.  At  any  ratt 
the  mere  fact  that  the  Settlement  brings  out  striking 
contrasts  between  it  and  its  neighborhood  interferes 


The  Social  Ethical  Movement 


103 


\ 


no  little  with  its  identification  with  the  life  of  the  neigh- 
borhood. 

A  second  instance  of  a  weakness  which  the  Settle- 
ment derives  from  its  basic  principle  of  likeness  is  its 
over-emphasis  of  the  value  of  democracy  as  a  method. 
I  say  democracy  as  a  method  and  not  as  a  principle. 
The  two  are  not  identical.  The  Social  Ethical  Move- 
ment does  not  rest  on  the  idea  of  democracy  as  a  prin- 
ciple, but  on  democracy  as  a  method,  which  is  a  very 
different  thing.  And  the  idea  of  carrying  out  its  activi- 
ties in  a  democratic  way,  the  Settlement  derives  from 
the  notion  of  human  form  as  a  principle  of  likeness 
upon  which  to  base  social  solidarity  through  a  culture 
achieved  democratically.  Democracy  as  a  principle 
may  give  rise  to  methods  that  may  not  be  democratic 
and  may  nevertheless  carry  out  the  social  principle 
perfectly  well,  by  taking  cognizance  of  such  notions  as 
superior,  equal  and  inferior.  This  is  actually  the  case 
with  the  Pure  Ethical  Movement.  But  the  idea  of 
democracy  as  a  method  which  the  Social  Ethical  Move- 
ment so  strongly  emphasizes,  an  idea  not  resting  on 
democracy  as  a  principle,  gives  rise  as  we  have  seen, 
to  such  absurd  practices  as  are  found  in  the  hastening 
processes  of  our  school  curricula  and  in  the  farcical 
self-government  makeshifts  in  Settlements. 

The  principle  of  the  unity  or  the  similarity 
of  life,  which  can  mean  only  the  universal  shrinking 
from  pain  and  the  pursuit  of  happiness,  requires  that 
politically  the  opportunities  to  avoid  suffering  and  to 
pursue  the  agreeable  shall  not  be  disturbed  in  the  in- 
terests of  one  class  to  the  detriment  of  another  by  the 
governmental  agency.  This  is  the  only  sense  in  which 
the  18th  century  doctrine  of  equality  remains  true 
today.  As  a  social  principle  it  has  been  interpreted 
to  mean  that  the  highest  in  life  which  a  community  is 


I 


104  Three  Types  of  Practical  Ethical  Movements 

capable  of  cannot  be  realized  unless  Ihe  conditions  are 
made  favorable  for  it.  The  Social  Ethical  Movement, 
therefore  has  labored  for  making  these  conditions  as 
favorable  as  possible.  Its  labor  along  this  line  con- 
stitutes the  Settlement's  civic  activities.  Its  ethical 
insight  here  is  sound;  and  it  works  along  with  other 
ethical  movements  in  this  direction.  For  that  very  rea- 
son its  civic  activities  do  not  distinguish  it  from  other 
ethical  movements.  What  is  genuinely  ethical  is  iden- 
tical in  all  movements  and  refuses  to  be  classified  by  itr 
self  just  as  the  life  of  Jesus  resists  classification  simply 
because  his  acts  are  above  that  of  a  single  class  and 
belong  to  all  classes.  Only  what  falls  below  the  purely 
ethical  plane  assumes  a  distinctive  character  which  can 
be  classified ;  but  .at  once  it  also  develops  some  contra- 
dictory nature  revealing  a  dialectical  principle  at  work 
in  its  midst.  We  have  found  this  true  in  the  Keligious 
Ethical  Movement  and  in  the  Social  Ethical  Movement, 
where,  for  instance,  to  establish  solidarity  we  employ  as 
a  method,  culture  democratically  diffused.  We  have 
seen  how  inadequate  this  method  is. 

How  strange  a  world  this  must  be,  wherein  you  must 
resort  to  pointing  out  differences,  if  you  desire  to  bring 
about  an  appreciation  of  unity !  Can  anything  be  more 
indicative  of  the  Hegelian  dialectic  of  reality's  flight 
to  an  opposite,  than  this  attitude  of  the  Social  Ethical 
Movement  ? 

To  sum  up:  The  idea  immanent  in  the  Settlement 
Movement  is  at  variance  with  the  actual  work  of  the 
Settlement.  The  activities  of  the  Settlement  may  be 
grouped  under  three  heads ;  the  cultural,  the  recreational 
and  the  civic.  The  immanent  idea  is  that  culture  and 
art  tend  to  solidarity  and  these  are  therefore  made  the 
main  propaganda,  with  results  surprisingly  startling 
because  of  their  opposite  effects.    The  secondary  activi- 


I 


The  Social  Ethical  Movement 


105 


ties  of  the  Settlement,  gymnasium,  baths,  game-room, 
are  mere  vents  to  allow  pent  up  instincts  their  regulated 
discharges  which  are  thereby  made  less  violent  and 
harmless.  The  remaining  activities  of  the  Settlement, 
the  civic  efforts  towards  public  improvements  are  based 
upon  the  idea  that  since  the  best  that  is  in  life  cannot 
be  brought  out  under  such  unfavorable  conditions,  a 
change  of  conditions  is  imperative. 

These  three  elements  in  the  Settlement  work,  cul- 
tural recreational  and  civic,  comprise  in  general  all 
the  activities  of  the  Settlement.  Of  these  the  ground 
for  the  last  is  most  truly  a  sound  ethical  principle ;  the 
ground  for  the  second  is  non-ethical ;  the  ground  for  the 
first  cannot  be  made  an  ethical  principle  at  all.  It  is 
in  failing  to  see  this  that  the  Settlement  may  be  said  to 
fall  short  as  an  ethical  movement. 


The  Pure  Ethical  Movement 


107 


CHAPTER  III 


THE  PUEE  ETHICAL  MOVEMENT  * 

(I)    Its  History 

BY  The  Pure  Ethical  Movement,  I  understand 
a  movement  which  debars  both  religious  dogma 
and  material  well-being  as  absolute  essentials  to 
ethical  life.  Such  a  movement  has  existed  as  an  idea 
time  and  again  in*  the  world's  history,  and  is  therefore 
nothing  new;  but  it  has  rarely  crystallized  into  and 
found  expression  in  a  concrete  physical  form. 

Whenever,  in  the  world's  history,  the  Will  was  given 
prominence  over  the  Intellect,  whenever  the  concept 
Action  was  esteemed  higher  than  the  concept  Being, 
whenever  man  was  emphasized  rather  than  his  world 
around  him,  we  found  this  movement  received  articulate 
shape.  Such  occasions  were  found  in  the  life  of  Soc- 
rates, in  the  lives  of  the  Stoics  and  in  the  doctrines  of 
Kant  in  regard  to  the  practical  life. 

These  emphases  upon  actual  living  are  not  without 
historic  connection.  Each  of  them  can  be  interpreted 
in  the  light  of  the  peculiarity  of  the  time  which  forced 
to  the  front  the  emphasis  upon  man  and  his  conduct. 
The  Socratic  movement  is  part  of  the  sophistic  move- 
ment reacting  upon  and  rebelling  against  the  rest  of 
it;  the  Stoic  movement  finds  its  explanation  in  being 

«A8  was  said  in  the  Preface  (see  page  viii,  the  word  "pure"  Is 
here  used  in  its  technical  signification  and  does  not  at  aU  imply  that 
the  Ethical  Culture  Societies  regard  their  members  as  "purer^*  people 

thill  othenk 

106 


'  f 


) 


regarded  as  an  offset  to  the  blasted  nationalistic  idea  of 
the  Greek  City  States ;  the  Kantian  movement  finds  its 
rationale  in  the  bankruptcy  of  the  scientific  explana- 
tion of  the  totality  of  the  phenomena  of  life.  Likewise 
the  Pure  Ethical  Movement,  with  its  emphasis  upon 
learning  to  do  the  right,  has  its  historic  connection. 

The  Pure  Ethical  Movement  which  has  found  crysr 
tallization  in  the  Ethical  Culture  Societies  is,  from  the 
intellectual  point  of  view  in  its  general  phase,  the 
offspring  of  the  Kantian  movement  and  closely  con- 
nected with  it.    More  particularly,  and  from  the  prac^ 
tical  point  of  view,  it  is  an  attempt  to  rescue  the  re- 1 
ligious  life  from  the  wreck  which  occurred  when  the( 
church  dogmas  were   shattered  by  the  revolutionary] 
movement  started  by  Darwin. 

From  the  negative  point  of  view,  we  have  in  the  words 
of  Dr.  Felix  Adler,  the  founder  of  the  Ethical  Move- 
ment, its  ground  stated  thus :  "To  understand  the  Eth- 
ical Movement  it  is  indispensable  to  bear  in  mind  the 
evils  which  it  seeks  to  counteract.  These  evils  are  chiefly 
materialism  and  moral  skepticism,  a  skepticism  which, 
nourished  by  the  crumbling  of  ancient  creeds,  has  at- 
tacked the  very  springs  of  moral  endeavor,  has  pro- 
duced in  the  minds  of  many,  a  feeling  as  if  there  were 
nothing  great  any  more  worth  living  for,  and  as  if  life 
had  been  utterly  emptied  of  all  its  nobler  content."  ^ 

The  moral  confusion  which  was  engendered  by  the 
skepticism  for  which  the  evolutionary  movement  was  in 
the  main  responsible,  manifested  itself  in  the  complete 
abandonment  of  life  to  commercial  and  industrial  ma- 
terialism. Scientific  inventions  aggravated  the  abuse  to 
which  such  an  abandonment  led,  and  religion  was  help- 
less. Christian  Socialism  made  no  impression  and  the 
Social  Movement  of  the  present  day  simply  tends  to 

»  Ethical  Record;  VoL  1,  p.  2. 


J 


I 


108  Three  Types  of  Practical  Ethical  Movements 

spread  among  tlie  iiitiltitTides,  Ae  material  comforts  and 
the  semi-materialistic  refinements  under  which  com- 
mercialism and  industrialism  hide  when  surfeited  with 
self-indulgence. 

Amidst  such  circumstances  when  leads  were  turned 
by  money-making  schemes,  and  when  in  the  dizziness  of 
the  whirl  they  were  unable  to  see  clearly  the  paths  of 
duty,  a  stern  prophet-like  call  was  required  to  awaken 
the  confused  moral  sense.  A  pure  ethical  movement 
alone  bore  promise  of  success  in  dealing  with  these 
conditions.  And  the  first  function  of  such  a  movement 
was  to  sift  that  which  was  moral  from  that  which  was 
religious  in  the  sense  commonly  accepted  by  the  multi- 
tude. It  was  necessary  to  point  out  the  sense  in  which 
tiie  terms  ethical  and  religious  were  identifiable,  and 
in  what  sense  they  differed.  This  was  absolutely  essen- 
tial in  order  to  rescue  the  moral  life  from  the  disrepute 
into  which  religion  had  fallen  through  the  shattering 
©f  old  beliefs  by  the  Darwinian  doctrine.  It  was  Felix 
Adler  who  undertook  this  task  and  became  the  founder 
of  a  pure  ethical  movement,  for  such  the  Society  for 
Ethical  Culture  is. 

Felix  Adler  had  been  brought  up  by  his  father  with 
the  intention  of  filling  the  post  of  Eabbi  in  the  esfab- 
lished  order  of  things.  It  was  expected  that  he  would 
propound  from  the  pulpit  the  customary  beliefs  which 
the  established  order  required. 

But  the  bread  had  been  in  the  meantime  leavened. 
The  yeast  which  had  been  deposited  in  1859  was  gradu- 
ally making  itself  felt.  First  the  old  notions  about  life 
suffered  decomposition ;  then  the  astronomic  and  cosmic 
motions  underwent  a  change;  lastly  through  the  stimu- 
lus of  anthropologic  investigations,  through  the  com- 
parative study  of  primitive  races  and  their  customs,  and 
through  the  higher  critidam  of  the  Bible,  religious  ideas 


The  Pure  Ethical  Movement 


109 


also  were  upheaved.  The  whole  world  was  thus  affected 
by  the  evolutionary  doctrine.  The  eternal  and  exist- 
ing order  was  no  longer  eternal.  Being  was  not.  Be- 
coming was.  Heraclitus  was  triumphant.  Never  before 
had  change,  movement,  activity,  received  such  tremen- 
dous emphasis.  The  decade  and  a  half  after  1859, 
witnessed  an  extensive  seething;  and  the  existing  reli- 
gious organizations  were  confronted  with  the  alternative 
of  turning  their  backs  upon  this  world-movement,  and 
stolidly  ignoring  it  in  its  entirety,  or  of  going  along 
with  it  and  picking  up  in  its  paths  the  gems  that  it 
found  by  the  wayside. 

Thus  the  Pure  Ethical  Movement  sprang  from  a  jense^ 
of  the  insufficiency  of  the  customary  religious  ideas  to 
meet  the  ethical  needs  which  the  new  conditions  of  the 
new  times  required.  The  new  industrial  conditions  had 
given  a  tremendous  incentive  to  the  worship  of  wealth, 
and  to  this  new  Moloch  were  sacrificed  young  children 
and  women  with  a  recklessness  which  might  well  have 
inspired  the  ancient  Moloch  with  envy.  The  followers 
of  the  new  god  were  devotees  of  the  existing  religions 
who  were  little  held  back  by  their  faith  from  offering  a 
daily  holocaust  to  their  new  deity. 

We  have  already  studied  the  Eeligious  Ethical  Move- 
ment of  Maurice  and  Kingsley  which  had  attempted  to 
combat  and  stem  this  rising  tide  of  wealth  worshippers. 
In  so  far  as  it  was  successful  it  was  by  way  of  creating 
a  better  acquaintanceship  between  the  spiritual  shep- 
herds and  their  lay  sheep ;  it  did  not  allay  the  ravenous 
appetite  for  wealth.  The  newly  awakened  interest  of 
the  clergy  in  the  life  of  the  laity  was  the  one  good  result 
which  it  effected. 

Now  the  ready  ear  which  the  laity  thus  offered  to  the 
instructions  of  the  clergy  was  counseled  to  listen  to  the 
distant  past,  a  past  utterly  unlike  their  own  present. 


i 


•    f 


!■' 


I 


110  Three  Types  of  Practical  Ethical  Movements 

And  just  about  Ms  time,  when  the  finger  of  the  clergy 
was  pointing  to  the  past,  with  the  advice  that  it  be  made 
a  guide  to  the  future,  the  past  itself  became  discredited. 
The  scientific  interpretations  which  it  just  at  this  time 
received  gave  a  new  meaning  to  that  past,  and  stripped 
it  of  all  the  holiness  which  the  clergy  were  then  claim- 
ing for  it^ 

Many  people  thus  b^an  to  feel  the  insuflSciency  of  the 
church  and  its  dogmas  to  rehabilitate  the  moral  life. 
Science  had  taken  issue  with  the  church  in  regard  to 
the  very  dogmas  whereon  the  church  rested  its  authority, 
and  had  completely  conquered.  And  now  that  the 
church  authority  was  no  longer  binding,  the  problem 
of  finding  a  substitute  for  it  was  keenly  felt  by  thinking 
men  and  women.  Morality  which  had  formerly  its 
foundation  in  religion  either  must  be  fixed  upon  a 
foundation  of  its  own,  or  else  it  must  disappear  before 
the  general  onslaught  of  science  upon  the  crude  notions 
and  dogmas  of  the  past.  "To-day,"  says  the  founder 
of  the  Ethical  Movement,  "a  wave  of  skeptical  opinion  is 
passing  over  the  masses  of  the  people  in  all  civilized 
countries,  so  that  the  number  is  exceedingly  large  of 
those  who  have  neither  the  idealism  of  science  and  art  to 
support  them,  nor  are  willing  and  able  to  accept  the 
current  creeds  and  who  are  therefore  allowed  simply  to 
drift  as  best  they  may,  wholly  uncared  for  on  the  moral 
or  spiritual  side  of  their  natures.  The  question  there- 
fore arises  whether  some  effort  should  not  be  made  to 
build  up  the  moral  life  of  those  whom  the  church  has 
ceased  to  influence,  to  develop  the  moral  instincts  of 
children,  to  fortify  the  character  of  the  young  against 
#l>  temptations  of  intemperance  and  licentiousness, 
to  cherish  the  love  of  justice  and  the  capacity  of 
self-sacrifice."  ^    "The  motive  that  prompted  the  forma- 

*  A  counter-attack  upon  the  theory  of  evolution  led  by  W.  J.  Bryan, 
a  layman  in  science,  is  at  the  present  time  being  launched. 

*  Th§  J'^ifHii,  ¥<||.  1%.  p.  386. 


The  Pure  Ethical  Movement 


111 


tion  of  the  Society,  was  the  desire  for  an  institution, 
which  for  its  members   should  take  the   place  of  a 

church*"  ^  1       rrn-       !»•    1 

There  were  new  times  and  new  needs.  The  ethical 
needs  of  the  times  were  twofold :  first,  a  new  ethics  must 
be  evoked  to  deal  with  the  new  industrial  conditions ; 
secondly,  in  view  of  the  now  scientifically  disparaged 
past,  the  ethical  guiding-finger  must  point  to  a  religion 
of  the  future  rather  than  to  one  of  the  past. 

The  whole  of  life  needed  a  readjustment.  The  in- 
dustrial as  well  as  the  spiritual  life  of  man  must  be  re- 
interpreted, and  this  the  Ethical  Culture  Movement 
undertook  to  accomplish.  The  needs  which  gave  rise  to 
the  Ethical  Movement  are  thus  specified  by  its  founder : 
"In  the  first  place,  there  is  the  need  of  founding  religion 
upon  a  basis  of  intellectual  truth.  The^  second  reason 
why  an  independent  movement  for  ethical  culture  is 
necessary  is,  that  we  need  to  give  men  a  clearer  under- 
standing of  applied  ethics,  a  better  insight  into  the 
specific  duties  of  life,  a  finer  and  more  comprehensive 
scheme  of  moral  practice  ...  A  third  reason  why  an 
ethical  movement  and  ethical  societies  are  needed,  is  that 
they  are  needed  to  supply  that  stimulus  and  energy 
to  the  will  which  is  so  indispensable  .  .  •  Fourthly, 
ethical  societies  are  needed  for  the  sake  of  the  children. 
It  is  time  that  men  of  advanced  opinions  should  have 
the  courage  to  teach  their  children  what  they  themselves 
believe  to  be  true.  And  lastly  the  purpose  of  an  ethical 
movement  is  that  out  of  it  may  spring  an  ethical  belief 
with  regard  to  the  world,  a  moral  optimism,  a  belief  that 
the  universe  is  making  for  righteousness,  that  there  is 
a  good  tendency  in  things."  ^ 

The  Society  which  set  before  itself  this  task  was 
founded  in  1876.    The  waning  enthusiasm  after  a  brief 


» Felix  Adler- 
s  Felix  Adler- 


-Twenty  Tears  of  the  Ethical  Movement. 

'The  Need  af  a  New  Moral  Movement  in  ReUoion, 


lis  Three  Types  of  Pradical  Ethical  Movements 

brilliant  beginning  of  lie  Eeligious  Etbical  Movement 
whose  main  task  was  similar,  taught  the  new  Society  a 
lesson  of  modesty  and  it  set  forth  with  humble  ambitions. 
It  had  no  ready-made  code  of  ethics  which  was  to  be  a 
talisman  for  all  occasions.  Eather,  in  the  spirit  of  the 
new  scientific  impulse  throbbing  at  the  time,  was  it  to 
search  out  the  ethics  of  each  occasion,  studying  what 
conduct  the  highest  ideal  required  as  new  problems 
arose.  "An  Ethical  Society,"  says  Felix  Adler,  "is 
primarily  a  society  of  men  and  women  associated  to- 
gether for  a  study  of  the  problems  of  the  higher  life, 
Iwr  the  discovery  of  those  new  points  of  duty  by  which 
the  received  code  of  ethics  needs  to  be  supplemented 
and  enlarged."  ^ 

The  Ethical  Culture  Movement  is  not  a  popular  move- 
laent,  even  though  it  claims  to  be  a  religious  movement. 
Eeligious  movements  are,  generally  speaking,  popular 
movements,  i.  e.,  they  appeal  to  the  heart  of  people 
through  principles  that  are,  at  any  rate  in  the  in- 
cipiency  of  these  movements,  intellectually  very  simple. 
The  Ethical  Movement  is  rather  a  movement  for  the 
more  thoughtful  type.  It  aims  to  gather  into  societies 
men  and  women  who  think  on  moral  problems,  and  who 
are  willing  to  live  out  in  their  daily  life  the  phases  of 
right  living  which  their  intellectual  efforts  have  revealed 
unto  them.  "A  Society  for  Ethical  Culture  will  attempt 
to  be  a  community  within  the  community,  illustrating  a 
higher  righteousness  among  themselves,  adopting  laws 
and  modes  of  social  living  for  which  the  community  at 
large  is  not  yet  ripe.  They  will  thus  attempt  to  build 
a  refuge  for  the  ideal  in  the  midst  of  surrounding  real- 
ism. The  members  of  such  a  society  will  never  be  slack 
in  their  efforts  for  the  reform  of  others,  but  the  princi- 

*  Unitarian  Review,  1885. 


/ 

V 


The  Pure  Ethical  Movement 


113 


pie  of  complete  and  radical  self-reform  in  and  by  asso- 
ciation will  be  their  distinctive  watchword."  ^ 

Yet,  at  the  outset,  the  Ethical  Culture  Movement  had 
to  answer  this  important  question:  Can  morality  be 
founded  on  a  pedestal  of  its  own  ?  The  formation  of  the 
Ethical  Culture  Society  was  in  fact  the  material  ex- 
pression of  such  a  belief.  It  was  a  bold  move  and  was 
at  first  openly  attacked  by  the  churches  as  atheistic  and 
irreligious.  From  these  attacks  it  defended  itself  with 
dignity  and  clearness,  establishing  its  religious  character 
by  pointing  out  that  the  appeals  of  religious  movements 
in  the  past  have  been  most  effective  when  made  to  the 
ethical  principles  which  they  contained;  that  what  is 
valuable  and  lasting  in  every  religion  is  the  ethical  ele- 
ment in  each ;  that  all  else  in  each  is  changeable  and  tem- 
porary. The  Ethical  Culture  Movement  simply  lays 
hold  of  this  ethical  principle  in  religion  and  strongly 
emphasizes  it  to  the  neglect  of  all  that  is  perishable,  in- 
different or  hostile  to  ethical  development 

Viewed  in  the  light  of  the  great  evolutionary  move- 
ment of  the  last  quarter  of  the  19th  century,  the  Ethical 
Culture  Movement  is  thus  first  of  all  a  religious  move- 
ment going  along  with  the  current  of  things ;  secondly, 
it  purposes  as  it  goes  along  to  pick  up  ail  the  gems  it 
finds  strewn  in  the  path  by  other  movements ;  thirdly, 
acknowledging  its  religious  character,  it  maintains  that 
what  is  really  vital  in  religion,  are  the  ethical  gems 
which  each  of  the  great  religions  in  the  onward  course 
of  events  has  polished  and  refined;  fourthly,  it  firmly 
adheres  to  this  alone :  that  of  aU  the  gems  on  the  road, 
tlje  purest  and  the  best  is  the  worth  in  the  individual 
man  and  woman ;  fifthly,  that  no  matter  how  soiled  this 
gem  might  be  from  lying  in  the  bypaths  of  the  great 

*  Felix  Adler — Tfie  Need  for  a  New  Moral  Movement  in  Religion, 


it 


Wi 


^ 


I 


IM  Three  Types  of  Practicd  Ethical  Movements 

highway  of  life,  the  gem  must  always  be  seen  amidst  the 
dirt  and  mud,  must  be  picked  up  and  polished.  This 
last  is  an  injunction  which  is  especially  dear  and  pecu- 
liar to  those  who  walk  in  the  ranks  of  the  Ethical  Cul- 
ture Movement.  It  is  obedience  to  this  injunction 
which  at  once  distinguishes  them  from  the  others  who 
are  also  pressing  forward  on  the  evolutionary  highway. 
The  Ethical  Culture  Movement  stoops  to  pick  up 
the  human  gems,  and  thus  asserts  in  this  one  respect,  its 
independence  of  the  evolutionary  process.  The  Ethical 
Culturists  differ  from  the  scientists  who  form  a  part  of 
the  throng  in  as  much  as  the  latter  simply  jot  down  in 
their  note  books:  "I  have  seen  this,  and  that  and  the 
other  thing,"  but  do  not  stop  to  pick  them  up,  to  clean 
Item  and  to  take  them  along. 

The  Ethical  Culture  Movement  may  be  defined  as  a 
religious  evolutionary  movement  whose  goal  is  alto- 
gether in  the  future.    And  here  we  may  note  the  radical 
way  in  which  it  differs  from  the  other  ethical  move- 
ments.   The  Keligious  Movement  has  a  goal  in  the  past, 
and  its  aim  is  to  bring  the  present  back  to  that  past 
goal.     The  world  according  to  it  seems  to  be  running 
away  from  its  goal  the  further  it  travels  on  in  time. 
To  halt,  as  it  were,  the  onward  rush  of  time  and  to  turn 
it  to  the  past,  is  in  the  main  its  cherished  hope.     The 
Pure  Ethical  Movement,  on  the  other  hand,  has  no 
goal  in  the  past.    It  looks  solely  to  the  future. 
vlt  is  a  religious  movement  in  that  it  attributes  worth 
%r  holiness  to  humanity.    This  it  has  in  common  with 
0ther  religions ;  but  it  is  at  the  same  time  differentiated 
from  them  in  as  much  as  unlike  them  it  attributes 
worth  to  humanity,  not  through  grace,  as  Catholicism 
in  the  main  does ;  not  through  merit  as  Protestantism  in 
the  main  does ;  but  rather  in  the  spirit  of  the  Hebrew 
fiat :  Holy  shalt  thou  be.    And  it  differs  even  from  the 


The  Pure  Ethical  Movement 


115 


Hebrew  notion,  in  as  much  as  it  assigns  worth  or  holi- 
ness unconditionally,  without  any  whys  and  wherefores. 
The  Hebrew  notion  does  undertake  the  justification  of 
such  assignment.  According  to  the  latter  man  is  holy 
because  he  is  created  in  the  image  of  God.  But  this 
reason  for  assigning  holiness  to  man  has  also  been  the 
occasion  for  refusing  the  ascription  of  holiness  to  those 
whom,  for  one  reason  or  another,  it  suited  the  rest  of 
mankind  to  keep  in  subjection.  The  negro,  it  was  often 
argued,  was  not  a  holy  being.  He  was  not  of  the 
human  race;  not  made  in  the  image  of  God.  The 
Ethical  Culture  Movement  drops  entirely  the  cause  of 
holiness,  because  any  cause  for  assigning  holiness  may 
be,  and  in  the  past  has  been,  a  cause  for  refusing  it  to  an 

unfavored  group. 

As  an  evolutionary  movement  it  looks  upon  the  past 
events  as  of  no  more  intrinsic  value  than  the  events 
of  the  present  or  of  the  future.  It  jots  the  sights  down 
in  its  note  book  much  in  the  spirit  of  the  scientist  who 
writes  down  his  data.  As  facts,  it  cherishes  one  set  no 
more  and  no  less  than  it  cherishes  another  set  of  facts. 
It  treats  all  alike. 

On  the  other  hand,  it  is  unlike  the  evolutionary  move- 
ment which  conceives  human  objects  as  marching  along 
with  time  each  one  indifferent  to  all  the  rest  except  as 
an  object  of  curiosity  to  the  others,  or  as  a  means  to 
furthering  its  own  existence  at  the  cost  of  the  others. 
The  Ethical  Movement  looks  upon  them  as  an  ideal 
order — ^^an  order  in  which  each  has  a  certain  specific 
value  which  is  necessary  to  the  complete  whole. 

A  practical  reform  movement  which  rests  upon  prin- 
ciples as  abstract  as  are  those  of  the  Ethical  Culture 
Movement  cannot  aim  at  mushroom  growth.  It  cannot 
multiply  as  rapidly  as  can  those  movements  that  have 
their  goal  in  the  immediate  present,  as  for  instance  is 


116  Three  Types  of  Practkai  Ethical  Movements 

the  case  with  the  Social  ElMcal  Movement  And  so 
we  find  that  while  Social  Settlements  though  somewhat 
younger  than  Ethical  Culture  Societies,  have  increased 
with  marvelous  speed  in  city  and  town,  Ethical  Culture 
Societies  increase  but  slowly  and  with  much  more 
deliberation  than  the  Social  Settlements. 

The  formation  of  Ethical  Culture  Societies  depends 
largely  upon  the  presence  of  men  who  are  available  as 
leaders  of  Ethical  Societies ;  men  who  shall  be  able  ta 
interpret  the  present  in  terms  of  the  future,  in  terms 
of  an  ideal  that  has  not  yet  been.  Naturally  such  men 
make  their  appearance  at  infrequent  intervals  of  time 
and  consequently  Ethical  Societies  are  expectantly  few. 
Since  the  foundation  of  the  New  York  Ethical  Culture 
Society  in  1876,  there  have  been  formed  a  few  other 
Societies  in  the*  United  States  and  in  England.  Chi- 
cago, St.  Louis,  Philadelphia,  Grand  Kapids,  and  Bos- 
ton have  one  society  each ;  New  York  has  two ;  London 
has  many.  Germany,  Switzerland,  France,  and  Austria 
have  at  least  one  each.  These  various  societies  were 
organized  as  soon  as  leaders  were  available.  The 
parent  society  in  New  York  has  been  the  school  ill 
which  the  leaders  of  most  of  the  societies  served  their 
apprenticeship. 

Besides  being  knit  together  by  a  bond  of  ethical  fel- 
lowship, all  the  societies  are  united  by  a  governing  body 
composed  of  the  Union  of  Ethical  Leaders.  The  So- 
cieties form  a  sort  of  confederacy,  in  which  each  society, 
while  independent  in  the  management  of  its  own  affairs, 
is  nevertheless  subject  to  the  decisions  which  the  United 
Societies  in  their  annual  convention  of  delegates  see 

fit  to  enact. 

In  this  respect  the  Ethical  Culture  Societies  differ 
from  the  Social  Settlements :  the  former  are,  the  latter 
are  not,  organically  related  to  one  another.    The  former 


The  Pure  Ethical  Movement 


117 


III* 


seem  to  build  for  the  future  and  are  therefore  bound 
to  build  more  deliberately  and  solidly ;  the  latter  build 
for  the  present  and  are  therefore  not  so  circumspect. 

Though  thus  distinguished  from  the  other  practical 
movements,  the  Pure  Ethical  Movement  does  not  ex- 
clude their  activities.  It  is  opposed  only  to  their  theo- 
retical assumptions,  but  not  to  their  practice.  Indeed, 
it  embodies  all  of  that  and  goes  beyond  it,  taking  some- 
what the  part  of  a  general  and  guiding  practical  art 
amidst  the  particular  practices  of  the  ethical  movements 
and  thus  bears  the  same  relation  to  i^U  other  practical 
movements,  that  metaphysics  bears  to  the  special 
sciences. 

Professor  Adler  distinguishes  the  Ethical  Culture 
Movement  from  the  others  as  follows:  "The  movement 
for  the  elevation  of  the  working  classes  is  inspired  and 
sustained  by  profound  moral  feelings.  How  can  an 
Ethical  Society  remain  an  indifferent  spectator  of  such  a 
struggle?  But  at  the  same  time  the  Ethical  Society 
cannot  merge  itself  with  any  of  the  special  movements 
for  social  reform.  First,  because  it  directs  its  efforts 
to  the  cultivation  of  personal  as  well  as  of  social  ethics. 
And  of  such  efforts  there  is  special  need  at  a  time  when 
social  aims  are  in  the  foreground.  The  very  splendor 
and  vastness  of  these  aims  tend  to  withdraw  attention 
from  the  narrower  but  no  less  sacred  field  of  private 
duty.  The  efforts  to  regenerate  society  must  spring  out 
of  the  whole  character.  The  new  social  ethics  must  rest 
on  the  foundations  of  private  morality.  Secondly,  every 
movement  which  is  conducted  in  the  interest  of  a  special 
reform  is  of  necessity  occupied  with  many  practical 
measures,  which  of  themselves  have  no  ethical  signifi- 
cance whatever,  but  are  importaat  as  minor  ends  sub- 
sidiary to  the  main  end.  Experience  shows  that  the 
prominence  necessarily  assumed  by  these  practical  meas- 


I 


/ 


118  Three  Tvpes  of  Practical  Ethical  Movements 

Tires,  tends  to  obscure  the  high  moral  end  itself.  JChere 
is  needed  a  distinct  movement  for  the  definition  of 
ethical  ends,  for  the  clarification  of  ethical  ideals.  And 
such  a  movement^  the  ethical  movement  is  designed  to 
be.  It  remains  in  contact  with  the  living  questions  of 
the  day,  but  it  does  not  suffer  itself  to  be  dravm  into 
ihii  whirlpool  of  agitation.  It  seeks  to  embrace  every 
special  movement  for  ref^m  within  its  scope  and  yet 
to  stand  above  them  all.  It  tests  and  tries  all  personal 
and  social  aims  whatsoever)  It  seeks  to  refresh  in  the 
minds  of  men  the  consciousness  of  the  infinity  of  the 
moral  ideal,  an  ideal  which  all  the  practical  reform 
movements  of  our  time,  if  their  wildest  hopes  were 
realized,  would  still  fail  to  satisfy."  ^ 

(11  j     Its  MMhoi  of  Reform 

There  are  three  methodii  of  reform  that  are  generally 
propounded  to-day.  First,  to  reform  by  education; 
second,  to  reform  by  removing  the  causes  that  give  rise 
to  the  ills  requiring  reform ;  third,  to  reform  by  l^sla- 
tive  acts. 

The  last  of  these  is  the  method  generally  favored  by 
political  statesmen  who,  thinking  entirely  in  terms  of 
national  sovereignty,  attribute  national  weaknesses  to 
national  policies,  and  lay  the  abuses  to  which  the  indusr 
trial  order  is  subject,  especially  the  highly  artificial 
prices  of  necessaries,  to  the  system  of  protection  or  to 
the  wanton  way  in  which  national  resources  were  given 
away  and  squandered,  or  to  governmental  failure  to 
regulate  the  charge  for  the  transportation  of  commodi- 
ties, or  to  its  failure  to  properly  supervise  the  cold- 
storage  of  food  products. 

These  failures  are  gr^|  social  wrongs,  and  the  states- 

^  The  Ethical  Record,  1889,  pp.  153-154. 


The  Pure  Ethical  Movement 


119 


man's  method  is  to  deal  with  them  by  legal  enactments. 
A  legislative  fiat  is  the  Aladdin's  lamp  that  will  do  our 
wishes.  "The  popular  remedy  for  bad  morals,  social 
sins,  and  all  kinds  of  human  dereliction  is  an  act  of  the 
legislature."  ^  And  this  view  is  held  despite  the  evi- 
dence to  the  contrary,  which  such  a  measure  as  the 
Sherman  Law  so  clearly  adduces  in  the  United 
States.  This  law,  intended  as  a  weapon  to  destroy 
the  abuses  to  which  vast  corporate  interests  are  prone, 
has  been  during  the  past  twenty  years  the  fostering 
mother  of  gigantic  corporations.  The  anarchic  ten- 
dencies we  witness  nowadays  throughout  the  country, 
are  due  in  large  measure  to  the  people's  distrust  of 
reforms  by  legislative  fiat. 

This  method  is  a  remnant  of  the  eighteenth  century 
doctrine  that  all  ills  are  caused  by  governmental  exac- 
tions and  oppressions,  and  would  not  exist  if  the  indi- 
vidual were  simply  left  alone.  This  is  the  theory  of  the 
school  of  Rousseau.  It  is  the  governmental  meddle- 
someness that  is  to  blame  for  ills  from  which  mankind 
suffers.  It  is  this  meddlesomeness  that  has  lifted  the 
lid  off  that  fateful  box  from  which  flew  all  mortal  suf- 
fering. "Don't  meddle,  leave  the  individual  alone,"  is 
thus  the  watchword  of  individualism. 

Now  if  public  woes  are  thus  made  by  governmental 
fiat,  why  cannot  public  good  also  be  created  by  govern- 
mental fiat  ?  This  is  precisely  the  position  of  Socialism. 
For  at  the  bottom  of  Socialism  lies  the  implied  principle 
that  the  Social  Whole  through  its  mouthpiece,  the  gov- 
ernmental agency,  can  dispel  social  and  economic  dis- 
eases by  a  statutory  law.  The  government  can  resolve  to 
buy  or  confiscate  all  industrial  machinery  and  apply 
it  to  the  economic  uses  of  the  Social  Whole,  and  through 
such  an  application  all  ills  will  be  gathered  together 

1  Franklin  Pierce,  in  PoUtioal  MoraUty, 


I 


120  Three  Types  of  Practical  EiUcal  Movements 

from  the  length  and  breadth  of  the  land  and  again  be 
shut  up  in  Eandoira's  box,  and  mankind  will  suffer  no 


more. 


Thus  the  eighteenth  century  Individualism,  and  the 
nineteenth  century  Socialism  draw  their  roots  from  the 
same  sod,  from  tiie  omnipotence  of  the  governmental 
agency.  The  former  laying  social  ills  to  government, 
at  once  leaps  forward  to  the  thought,  that  the  creator 
of  ill  can  also  be  the  creator  of  good.  Socialism  as  a 
political  party  rests  entirely  on  this  doctrine.  The 
political  statesman  and  the  political  socialist  have  thus 
liie  same  method  of  reform,  a  method  which  has  had 
years  of  trial  and  numerous  failures. 

The  second  method  of  reform,  that  of  removing  the 
causes  responsible  for  the  social  ills,  is  the  method 
mainly  favored  by  the  Social  Ethical  Movement,  The 
theory  underlying  this  method  is  that  social  ills  are  a 
social  product  for  which  society  as  a  whole  is  responsi- 
ble and  not  the  individual  criminal  who  commits  them. 
The  wayward  girl,  the  depraved  youth,  the  drunken 
husband,  and  even  the  hardened  criminal,  it  is  claimed, 
tie  merely  the  executive  functionaries  of  the  silent  leg- 
islation which  society  is  all  the  time  unconsciously 
enacting  by  making  no  provisions  to  offset  the  natural 
bent  or  tendencies  of  human  individuals. 

Only  racial  characteristics,  it  is  urged,  are  manifest- 
ing themselves  in  the  individuals  whom  society  pursues 
and  punishes  for  crimes  which  not  they,  but  inherited 
racial  experiences  are  really  responsible  for.  Were  jus- 
tice justly  meted  out,  the  race  rather  than  the  indi- 
vidual, would  thus  have  been  brought  before  the  bar. 
The  thief,  whether  he  be  the  pick-pocket,  or  the  youth 
who  makes  away  with  coal  from  the  railroad  yard  or 
with  lead-pipe  from  vacant  houses  is  exercising  not  a 
vicious  but  a  nusial  iiipopensitj  which  in  times  gone  by 


The  Pure  Ethical  Movement 


121 


were  perfectly  legitimate  and  if  carried  out  successfully 
were  marks  of  commend(able  skill.  The  gangster's 
prowlings  are  merely  the  cropping  out  once  again  of  the 
adventurous  spirit  of  his  ancestors.  They  are  but  forag- 
ing expeditions  on  a  smaller  scale,  which  the  race  in  the 
past  carried  out  on  a  large  scale. 

These  youths  are  not  to  be  condemned;  on  the  con- 
trary, they  are  the  doers  of  deeds,  the  exponents  of 
action,  and  the  promising  leaders  of  men,  as  compared 
with  the  goody-goodies  who  are  inactive  sheep  waiting 
to  be  driven  or  led.  All  that  these  abortive  heroes  re- 
quire is  a  redirection  of  their  active  propensity  and  not 
repression  or  punishment  at  the  hands  of  society. 

This  theory  has  been  directly  responsible  for  several 
reforms — ^for  the  children's  court,  for  the  parole  or 
probationary  system,  for  the  suspended  sentence.  Its 
method  of  redirecting  the  pent-up  energies  of  youth, 
which  now  and  then  are  wont  to  give  way  to  explosive 
bursts  harmful  to  the  social  order,  has  established  the 
many  gymnasiums,  play-centers,  recreation  centers, 
game-rooms,  dancing  classes,  etc.,  all  of  which  are 
merely  precautionary  safety  valves  which  society  is 
advised  to  set  up  in  increasing  numbers  throughout  the 
land. 

Other  social  ills  such  as  the  street-walker's  profes- 
sion are  laid  at  the  door  of  the  lack  of  privacy  which 
the  overcrowded  tenements  beget;  and  the  destructive 
diseases,  tuberculosis  and  typhoid  whose  contagious 
nature  warrants  their  being  classed  as  social  diseases, 
are  attributed  to  the  unsanitary  housings  of  the  poor. 
The  tenement  house  law,  which  is  the  child  of  the  Social 
Ethical  Movement,  is  the  remedy  applied  in  these  cases 
with  great  success. 

That  this  method  of  dealing  with  social  ills  has  ac- 
complished much  good  cannot  be  gainsaid.    But  it  has 


I 


122  Three  Types  of  Practical  Ethical  Movements 

these  great  shortcomings.  First,  it  tries  to  reform  the 
mass  without  reforming  the  individual,  and  second  the 
causal  theory  upon  which  its  explanation  of  social  ills 
rests  is  entirely  too  mechanical,  and  results  in  becloud- 
ing responsibility.  It  is  the  materialistic  theory  of 
reality  applied  to  social  phenomena.  The  theory  that 
it  is  inherited  racial  characteristics  that  are  working 
in  the  individual  who  commits  wrongs  upon  society, 
leaves  society  only  with  remedial  and  not  with  exem- 
plary or  punitive  defences  against  criminality ;  for  the 
individual  is  in  no  way  responsible.  He  is  according  to 
this  theory  totally  the  product  of  a  materialistic  monism, 
for  which  Haeckel  in  modem  times  so  strenuously 
fights.  How  can  a  materialistic  theory  of  life  step  forth 
as  the  champion  of  a  cause  whose  main  welfare  is  di- 
rected against  industrial  and  commercial  materialism  ? 
How  can  materialism  fight  materialism  ?  How  can  one 
call  upon  the  devil  to  cast  out  devils  ? 

The  view  here  presented  is  one  which  results  from 
following  to  its  conclusion  the  partial  truth  which  the 
Social  Ethical  Movement  sees  regarding  the  relation  of 
social  conditions  to  social  crimes.  It  is  not  intended  by 
the  presentation  here  set  forth,  to  charge  the  Social 
Ethical  Movement  with  being  materialistic.  Nothing 
can  be  further  from  the  truth.  One  has  but  to  point  to 
such  exponents  of  the  Settlement  Movement  as  Toyn- 
bee,  Woods,  Taylor  and  Jane  Addams  to  refute  any 
such  charge.  Indeed  the  designation,  ethical,  as  applied 
U  the  Social  Settlement  Movement  in  this  Chapter, 
implies  the  very  opposite  of  a  materialistic  conception 
of  reality.  The  Settlement  Movement  takes,  however, 
<mly  a  short-sighted  view  and  proclaims  but  a  partial 
truth  when  it  makes  social  sins  the  product  solely  of 
iocial  conditions.  The  need  of  a  social  metaphysics  to 
dieck  up  and  correct  the  partial  ^ths  which  social 


The  Pure  Ethical  Movement 


123 


reform  movements  put  forth  from  time  to  time,  is  ap- 
parent from  the  conclusions  which  follow  a  logical 
deduction  of  the  premises  set  forth  in  their  theories. 

The  social  reformer  fails  to  see  this  broader  relation 
to  things,  because  he  is  so  completely  engrossed  in  his 
particular  reform  that  his  field  of  vision  becomes  ex- 
tremely narrow.  Professor  Adler  puts  the  case  splen- 
didly when  he  says:  "The  narrow-minded  reformer, 
who  puts  a  moral  idol  in  the  place  of  a  moral  ideal,  who 
erects  into  the  object  towards  which  all  his  enthusiasm 
goes,  some  particular  reform,  such  as  the  single-tax  or 
socialism,  or  public  parks,  or  a  model  school,  the  man  in 
short,  who  strives  for  a  good  instead  of  striving  for 
goodness,  possesses  a  virtue  which,  as  Emerson  has  said 
so  painfully  resembles  vice."  ^ 

This  is  seen  clearly  when  we  follow  up  into  details, 
the  theory  of  any  particular  reform  movement.  The 
Settlement  Movement  is  at  bottom  an  indictment  of 
the  home.  It  deals  with  masses  and  not  with 
individuals.  It  arrays  itself  against  those  institu- 
tions from  which  the  masses  sprang.  It  says  in  fact: 
"Your  homes  are  i>oor  social  centers;  your  mothers 
and  fathers  are  unfit  for  their  parental  duties;  come 
therefore  to  us,  ye  boys  and  girls,  youths  and  maidens, 
we  will  establish  better  social  centers  for  you  and  in 
these  new  homes  we  will  be  your  foster  parents." 

It  may  be  that  the  existing  homes  are  defective,  and 
that  parents  are  unable  to  fulfill  the  duties  of  parent- 
hood; yet  it  is  at  least  very  doubtful  whether  in  the 
large  group-home  of  the  Settlement  with  its  numer- 
ous progeny,  any  better  oversight  and  personal  super- 
vision can  be  devised  for  the  individual,  than  in  the 
average  home  with  its  comparatively  few  charges.  Is 
it  likely  that  where  supervision  and  tender  thought  for 

^F.  Aaier—EasentiaU  of  Spiritualitv* 


i^' 


I" 


j  I 


fi  * 


4  Three  Types  of  Practical  Effiical  Movements 

a  few  children  fail  in  the  home,  they  will  succeed 
when  directed  over  many  in  the  Settlement?  Will 
work  upon  groups  be  successful  where  work  upon  indi- 
viduals is  not  ?  When  we  cannot  move  the  unit  are  we 
likely  to  move  the  mass  ? 

The  Social  Ethical  Movement  is  mistaken  m  its 
method  because  it  undertakes  what  is  not  possible  to 
achieve.  It  looks  for  quick  results.  It  is  a  movement 
©f  the  present  and  builds  mainly  for  the  present.  This 
statement  needs  some  amplification,  if  it  is  not  to  be 
misunderstood.  It  is  true,  no  doubt,  that  all  ethical 
movements  start  with  a  past  and  look  forward  toward 
that  future  to  which  the  words  of  Eobert  Burns  shall 

apply: 

\  "If  s  coming  yet,  for  if  Ihat, 

\  That- man  to  man,  the  world  o'er, 

'  Shall  brothers  be  for  a'  that.'* 

I  ' 

4 
» 

\    It  ii  furthermore  true  that  all  ethical  movements  strive 
\  to  actualize  that  future  in  the  immediate  present.    Yet 
\  there  is  such  a  difference  of  emphasis  laid  upon  the 
time  elements  by  the  different  ethical  movements  as 
;to  justify  a  characterization  of  these  movements  ao- 
Icording  to  their  emphasis  of  and  outlook  upon  the  tem- 
toral  relation.    Accordingly  we  may  roughly  distinguish 
flie  three  practical  ethical  movements  by  pointing  out 
that  the  Keligious  Ethical  Movement  has  its  eye,  as 
well  as  its  foundations,  mainly  on  the  past ;  the  Social 
Ethical  Movement  has  its  eyes  mainly  on  the  present; 
Ijie  Pure  Ethical  Movement  mainly  on  the  futura    This 
phasis  upon  the  future  is  not  generally  insisted  on  by 
e  Social  Ethical  Movement  with  sufficient  force. 
Lastly  there  is  the  method  of  reform  through  edu- 
cation.   It  is  the  method  which  the  Pure  Ethical  Move- 
mint  pursues  to  the  utmost  detail.    It  aims  to  see  life  as 


The  Pure  Ethical  Movement 


125 


a  whole,  as  well  as  the  particular  mosaics  which  com-  — 
pose  it.  'The  method  of  propaganda,"  says  Prof.  Adler, 
"is  for  the  teachers,  the  leaders,  to  see  clearly  the  scheme 
of  right  living  and  to  make  others  see  it,  to  be  aglow 
with  moral  passion  and  to  kindle  in  others  the  same  fire ; 
to  be  in  earnest  and  to  infect  others  with  the  same 
earnestness."  ^ 

Of  course  this  method  is  long  and  tedious.  But  it 
is  the  method  which  follows  from  the  conception  of  its 
ideal — the  ideal  whose  abiding  place  is  ever  in  the 
future.  The  method  is  slow  because  it  has  all  eternity 
before  it  in  which  to  operate.  The  only  sin,  therefore, 
lies  in  inactivity;  not  in  the  slowness  of  the  process 
of  the  method.  It  must  never  cease  to  operate.  Its 
application  lasts  as  long  as  life  lasts. 

The  scheme  of  the  Pure  Ethical  Movement  embraces 
this  fully.  It  employs  in  part  the  methods  of  the  pre- 
vious movements.  It  does  not  exclude  them.  It  incor- 
porates them;  but  only  incidentally.  Its  primary 
method  is  the  method  of  education. 

The  Ethical  Culture  Movement  has  been  the  pioneer 
movement  in  the  use  of  this  method,  and  has  constantly 
kept  ahead  of  other  educational  movements.  It  has 
been  a  leader  in  this  field ;  and  the  State  educational  in- 
stitutions have  followed  in  its  wake. 

The  educational  program  of  the  Ethical  Culture  So- 
ciety embraces  the  kindergarten,  the  elementary,  the 
high  school  courses  and  the  normal  department.  These 
are  of  the  very  highest  efficiency.  The  pupils  are  se- 
lected from  the  well-to-do  and  from  the  poor  in  equal 
numbers.  The  classes  are  of  a  size  which  permits  of 
the  personal  influence  of  the  teacher.  The  courses 
embrace  manual  and  physical  training  as  well  as  the 
fine  arts,  in  addition  to  the  three  K's.     Furthermore, 

» The  Reform,  VoL  Hk  f»  386.  i^ 


126  Three  Types  of  Practical  Ethical  Movements 

m  this  one  respect  is  the  educational  course  of  the 
Ethical  Culture  Movement  peculiar  to  the  Ethical  Cul' 
ture  Society:  it  provides  for  regular  direct  ethical  in- 
struction instead  of  the  irregular  and  occasional  ethical 
lessons  that  are  given  in  other  educational  institutions 
as  circumstances  call  for  them.  The  Ethical  Society 
thus  provides  educational  courses  for  childhood  and  for 
youth.  In  its  all-embracing  scope,  it  provides  also  for 
infancy  through  its  Child  Nature  Classes  conducted  by 
the  Woman's  Auxiliary  of  the  Ethical  Culture  Society. 
Another  important  feature  of  the  activities  of  the  So- 
ciety is  its  Sunday  Meeting  where,  from  its  platform,  it 
provides  a  series  of  lectures  for  the  mature  man.  The 
subjects  treated  are  either  the  problems  of  the  day  ttt 
they  arise,  or  the  great  general  problems  of  life.  The 
activities  of  the  'society  embrace  also  a  Sunday  School 
and  Settlement  work. 

The  scope  of  its  method  is  thus  as  wide  as  are  the  edu- 
cational requirements  of  infancy,  childhood,  youth  and 
manhood.  It  pursues  its  task  with  thoroughness  and 
zeal  for  the  moral  well-being  of  its  members. 

Surely,  the  movement  that  lays  so  much  stress  on 
education  as  a  method  of  ethical  reform  must  have  som© 
particular  view  in  regard  to  the  eflficiency  of  education 
as  a  moral  lever.  The  Ethical  Movement  maintains  that 
,  "It  is  only  necessary  to  hold  the  rule  of  right-doing 
lefore  a  man,  and  that  if  it  is  really  right,  he  will  ac- 
cept it,  whether  he  believes  the  theory  of  it  or  not.  The 
appeal  to  conscience  is  direct  and  the  response  of  con* 
science  is  immediate."  ^  An  ethical  movement  therefore 
holds  up  to  clear  view  the  paths  of  moral  duty,  in  the 
hope  that  the  vision  of  the  right  will  lead  to  the  per- 
*^f  ormance  of  the  right. 

A  doctrine  such  as  this  has  been  advocated  by  the 

1  Felix  Adler,  In  The  Open  Court,  Vol.  1,  p.  600. 


The  Pure  Ethical  Movement 


127 


noblest  ethical  thinkers  of  all  times.  It  was  the  view 
of  Socrates  and  of  Plato  in  ancient,  and  of  Spinoza  in 
more  recent  times.  Spinoza  placed  the  blame  for  moral 
delinquency  on  the  confused  idea  of  what  was  right.  It 
is  this  confusion  that  enslaves  us,  and  the  only  means 
of  freeing  ourselves  from  bondage  is  to  work  for  the 
possession  of  what  he  calls  adequate  ideas.  The  Ethical 
Movement  agrees  with  this  view  completely.  It  holds 
that  "One  of  the  greatest  sources  of  disorder  at  the  pres- 
ent time,  is  uncertainty  as  to  the  standard,  lack  of  a 
clear  perception  of  the  line  of  duty,  absence  of  moral 
light.  We  need  light  on  the  great  social  problems  of 
the  day ;  we  need  to  see  far  more  distinctly  than  we  do, 
what  are  the  duties  of  employers  to^  employees,  and 
conversely ;  we  need  to  see  far  more  distinctly  than  we 
do  what  ought  of  right  to  be  the  relation  of  the  social 
classes,  and  also  what  ought  of  right  to  be  the  relations 
of  men  and  women  to  one  another,  now  that  women 
claim — and   properly   claim   equality    of   opportunity 

with  men."  ^ 

There  is  at  least  this  difference  between  the  Spin- 
ozistic  cry  for  more  light  and  the  Ethical  cry  for  more 
light.  The  former  seeks  a  general  light ;  the  latter  seeks 
particular  brands  that  were  fired  by  the  general  light 
of  the  ethical  ideal.  A  general  sunlight  is  useless 
precisely  because  the  sunlight  is  not  able  to  enter  into 
and  light  up  the  twists  and  turns  of  life's  passageways. 
Spinoza  and  Kant  both  offered  a  sunlight ;  but  a  general 
stationary  light  helps  us  little,  be  it  ever  so  bright.  A 
tallow  candle  carried  along  as  you  walk  through  the 
labyrinth  of  life's  paths  is  of  far  more  service.  The 
Ethical  Movement  seeks  to  furnish  such  particular 
lights,  first  kindling  them  in  the  general  flame  of  the 
ethical  ideal. 

>]rdiz  Adler,  in  The  ReUfflon  of  Duty,  pp.  107-198. 


t 


ii 


lis  Three  Types  of  Practical  Ethical  Movements 

The  Ethical  Movement  is  thus  an  educational  move- 
ment, a  movement  that  endeavors  to  see  in  each  par- 
ticular occasion,  the  light  shining  from  its  great  lumin- 
ating  ideal  and  in  the  light  of  this  ideal  to  work  out  the 
path  of  duty  the  particular  occasion  requires.  This  it 
expects  and  justly  expects  from  its  reliance  on  the  efli- 
cacy  of  clear  knowledge  in  the  field  of  conduct. 

Its  method  of  social  reform  is  through  individual  re- 
form, and  through  the  co-operation  of  all  individuals, 
mon-members  as  well  as  members,  whose  standard  of 
morals  and  manners  of  life  are  of  the  type  similar  to 
tiiat  of  its  members.  It  seeks  proper  means  to  proper 
ends.  Not  the  ends  alone,  but  the  means  as  well  must 
be  right  to  satisfy  its  requirements.  At  every  particular 
step  the  universal  ideal  must  throw  its  light. 

A  method  such  this  does  not  make  a  loud  stir  and 
noise  in  the  world.  It  rather  chooses  to  burrow  its  roots 
deep  in  the  human  breast,  than  to  raise  any  branches 
mot  firmly  fixed  which  the  least  gust  of  life's  passions 
"Causes  to  be  overthrown  for  want  of  solid  support. 
It  is  slow  but  sure.  It  does  not  attempt,  as  do  the  Settle- 
ment and  the  Public  School,  to  give  their  boys  a  taste 
of  everything  as  quickly  as  possible  and  then  to  proclaim 
them  fit  for  life. 

Life  is  something  not  for  which,  but  in  which  the 
child,  the  youth  and  the  adult  are  to  be  educated,  and  the 
process  of  education  goes  on  with  life.  Not  a  pre- 
mature, quick  witted  youngster,  ever-ready  with  repar- 
tee, aging  quickly  into  a  dull,  half-spent  manhood  is 
the  aim,  but  a  slowly  ripening  youth  whose  virile  sap 
does  not  dry  up  with  maturity  of  years. 

And  this  wise  method  is  the  device  of  wise  leadership. 
Yes,  in  the  care  with  which  the  Ethical  Societies  choose 
their  leaders,  is  the  method  employed  by  the  movement, 
realized  to  its  full  extent.     The  highest  qualities  are 


The  Pure  Ethical  Movement 


129 


essential  for  ethical  leadership ;  for  more  depends  upon 
the  leader  than  upon  the  movement.  Faith  in  person- 
ality rather  than  in  institutions  has  been  the  principle 
upon  which  the  growth  of  Ethical  Societies  depends. 
The  propagation  of  the  movement  awaits  the  appearance 
of  leaders.  This  is  perhaps  the  main  reason  why  the 
Ethical  Culture  Movement  has  not  been  institutional- 
ized although  younger  ethical  movements  have  passed 
into  the  institutional  stage.  Gradually  some  definite 
scheme  of  educating  members  for  ethical  leadership  will 
be  worked  out  by  the  Society.  Whatever  that  may  be, 
let  it  be  hoped  that  it  will  be  in  the  lines  of  the  thor- 
oughness so  far  signalizing  the  methods  of  the  Society 
in  all  its  other  work. 

(Ill)     Its  Philosophical  Implications 
(a)     Its  Attitude  toward  Reality 

The  distinctive  feature  of  the  Pure  Ethical  Move- 
ment lies  in  the  locus  of  the  ethical  ideal.  Deriving 
its  inspiration  from  that  ideal,  it  plants  its  basis  on  the 
knowledge,  the  love  and  the  practice  of  the  right.  It 
disclaims  all  preconceived  religious  dogmas  and  philo- 
sophical theories.  Alone  the  study  and  the  practice  of 
the  right  are  its  basis  of  union  among  its  members. 

This  principle  of  right  living  without  consulting  the 
oracles  of  the  past  as  to  what  the  right  consists  in,  re- 
ceives more  emphasis  in  the  writings  and  lectures  of  the 
Ethical  Culture  Society  than  does  any  other.  The 
Ethical  Culture  Movement  has  burnt  the  bridges  be- 
hind it,  and  looks  towards  the  future  for  its  guiding 
thread.  The  Pure  Ethical  Movement  thus  rests  upon 
an  ideal  that  has  never  yet  been;  for  its  ideal  is  an 
ideal  of  the  future. 


'■" "'" ' ^ataaiiiittiyiMiiiitti 


180  Three  Types  of  Practical  Ethical  Movements 

This  ideal  of  tie  future  is  to'1)e  cfeariy  differentiated 
from,  and  not  confused  with  the  Christian's  "King- 
dom," and  the  Hebrew's  "Future  World."  The  latter 
are  viewed  as  states  of  society  in  which  perfection  will 
finally  be  reached.  A  point  of  time  will  come  when  the 
ideal  will  be  completely  realized.  Whatever  activity 
may  go  on  in  that  "Kingdom"  and  in  that  period  of 
time,  wherein  the  "Future  World"  is  bounded,  it  will 
not  be  the  activity  which  consists  in  the  upward  strug- 
gle to  make  mankind  better  than  it  is  and  nature  less 
niggardly  in  bestowing  her  gifts.  It  is  to  these  ends 
Ihat,  according  to  the  Keligious  Ethical  Movement,  the 
present  life  is  devoted ;  the  future  life  is  for  the  enjoy- 
ment of  the  products  of  the  present  struggle.. 

The  future  "Kingdom"  will  not  be  one  of  struggle, 
even  though  the  struggle  be  one  making  for  progress. 
All  of  this  world's  struggles  is  a  propaedeutic  for  the 
ease  and  comfort  of  the  "Kingdom"  to  come.  The  only 
activity  conceivable,  then,  is  that  which  is  involved  in 
basking  in  the  divine  radiance  and  in  singing  incessant 
Hosannas.  For  the  religious  notions  of  the  future  are 
capable  of  being  fully  realized  and  will  at  some  future 
time  be  experienced  as  an  immediate  present  experi- 

vSice* 

There  is  not  He  iKghtest  doubt  to  the  religious  mind 
that  that  future  will  be  a  present ;  nay,  it  already  en- 
dures through  the  present ;  for  was  it  not  already  truly 
realized  in  the  past  ?  Yes,  the  ideal  had  an  existence  in 
the  past ;  it  even  now  has  an  existence  in  the  future,  and 
simply  waits  for  the  present  to  come  up  to  it  and  to 
enjoy  it.  The  future  life  has  as  sure  an  existence  now 
at  this  very  moment,  as  has  my  immediate  present.  It 
is  simply  waiting  for  us.  Those  of  us  who  shall  reach 
it  will  enjoy  its  blessings  with  as  much  relish  as  the 
pious  Hebrews  will  enjoy  the  Leviathan  and  the  Shore 


The  Pure  Ethical  Movement 


131 


Habor,  those  patient  monsters  which  are  protracting 
their  six  thousand  years'  existence  for  the  great  day. 
The  Christian's  "Future  Kingdom"  has  just  as  certain 
an  existence  to-day  as  have  these  traditional  monsters 
that  were,  according  to  the  Talmud,  gotten  ready  for 
the  final  day  during  the  first  six  days  of  creation.  Such 
is  the  ideal  of  the  future  conceived  by  the  Eeligious 
Ethical  Movement. 

The  ideal  of  the  Pure  Ethical  Movement,  an  ideal 
whose  locus  is  in  the  future,  is  a  radically  different 
ideal.  As  an  ideal  whose  locus  is  in  the  future,  it  has 
not  now,  nor  can  it  ever  have  the  immediacy  of  a  present 
existence.  It  must  always  retain  this  locus,  remain  a 
mere  future,  a  mere  potentiality,  ever  drawing  mankind 
on  to  further  and  further  efforts  towards  its  approxima- 
tion. And  only  an  approximation,  a  remote  approxima- 
tion to  the  ideal  is  at  best  ever  possible;  never  its  com- 
plete realization.  There  is  ever  an  outlook  to  a  beyond, 
to  a  better  state  than  that  already  attained.  This  out- 
look, this  vision  constantly  beckons  to  our  energies,  ex- 
horting us  to  struggle  on  to  a  further  realization  and  a. 
still  further  realization  without  end.  The  more  we  at- 
tain of  the  ideal,  the  more  we  become  aware  of  the 
remainder  that  is  not  yet  attained. 

In  the  line  of  conduct,  we  have  from  this  considera- 
tion of  the  ethical  ideal  an  analogue  of  Socrates's  splen- 
did interpretation  of  the  Delphic  Oracle.  As  wisdom 
consists  in  a  comprehension  of  the  limitations  of  our 
knowledge,  so  ethical  insight  into  the  nature  of  the  ideal 
consists  not  in  the  taking  of  stock  of  what  has  already 
been  realized  of  the  Ethical  Ideal,  but  in  the  awe- 
inspiring  conviction  that  so  much  of  it  still  remains 
unrealized. 

Only  at  the  peril  of  our  souls  do  we  say  to  any 
realized  portion  of  our  ideal,  "Stay,  thou  art  so  fair." 


I' 


11  I 


182  Three  Types  of  Practical  Ethicd  Movements 

For  tie  nature  of  tlie  Ethical  Ideal  is  such  that  it  can 
never  find  itself  expressed  in  a  present  experience,  for 
it  is  never  of  the  present,  but  always  of  the  future.  We 
may  progress  towards  it ;  but  we  cannot  touch  it,  for  it 
does  not  possess  the  immediacy  of  a  present  that  would 
make  any  intimate  union  with  it  possibte  for  one  mo- 

The  Ethical  Ideal  cannot  therefore  give  that  satis- 
faction which  the  Beatific  Vision  gives  to  the  saints,  nor 
is  it  desirable  that  it  should  do  this.  The  Beatific  Vision 
surfeits  the  faculties  of  the  soul  just  as  gluttony  sur- 
feits the  faculties  of  sense.  Both  cause  us  to  grip  the 
present  moment,  to  beg  it  to  remain,  that  we  may  feast 
upon  it.  In  the  end  they  both  equally  paralyze  the 
spirit.  Gluttony  paralyzes  the  senses;  the  Beatific 
Vision  palsies  the  soul  so  that  it  is  good  for  nothing  else 
except  the  singing  of  Hallelujahs. 

Only  by  such  strong  contrasts  can  we  fully  learn  the 
true  value  of  an  ideal  that  lies  totally  in  the  future, 
and  of  which  we  can  realize  but  a  very  small  fragment 
in  each  present  moment. 

Such  a  theory  is  a  remarkable  departure  from  the 
ideals  that  have  been  propounded  in  bygone  days.  The 
existing  religions  have  their  ideal  in  the  past;  the 
religion  of  the  Ethical  Culture  Society  has  its  ideal  in 
the  future.  This  is  what  is  so  strikingly  new  in  the 
Pure  Ethical  Movement. 

The  thought  that  an  ideal  placed  in  the  future  should 
yet  be  endowed  with  the  potency  of  operating  in  the 
present,  neither  the  philosopher  nor  the  theologian  is 
willing  to  accept.  Ideals  whether  religious  or  philo- 
sophical that  were  devised  in  the  past,  have  been  of  two 
kinds:  1.  The  religious  ideal  whose  embodiment  and 
realization  existed  at  mm^  time  m  the  temporal  order 


The  Pure  Ethical  Movement 


133 


of  the  past.  2.  The  philosophic  ideal  which  has  an 
eternal  existence  but  is  completely  out-side  of  the  tem- 
poral order.  The  ideal  of  the  Ethical  Culture  Move- 
ment differs  from  these  types  in  that  it  has  not  found 
its  highest  realization  in  the  past,  and  in  that  it  is 
not  placed  outside  of  the  temporal  order.  It  is  there- 
fore a  complete  innovation,  and  as  such  it  has  been 
subject  to  the  attacks  and  criticisms  from  both  the  older 
types. 

The  Pure  Ethical  Movement  takes,  nevertheless,  a 
cautious  step  in  regard  to  theological  and  philosophical 
principles.  It  does  not  intend  to  antagonize  them  but 
it  does  intend  to  ignore  them.  And  this  is  just  what 
neither  the  theologian  nor  the  philosopher  will  permit. 
Each  wants  to  be  reckoned  with.  To  be  ignored  is  to 
be  slighted  and  prompts  to  an  attack. 

The  theologian's  attack  is  directed  against  the  indif- 
ference with  which  the  Ethical  Culturist  looks  upon 
what  to  him  is  primary — that  ideal  which  was  realized 
in  the  past;  the  face-to-face  communion  between  God 
and  man,  when  once  and  for  all  there  was  revealed  what 
reality  is.  How  can  such  a  momentous  past  be  beheld 
with  indifference  ?  Where  else  can  ethics  draw  inspira- 
tion from,  if  not  from  this  past?  To  ignore  this  won- 
drous past  is  to  the  theologian  to  be  irreligious;  and  to 
be  irreligious  is  to  be  unethical. 

The  theologian  attacks  the  Ethical  Culture  Movement 
on  the  ground  that  an  ethics  cannot  be  founded  on  an 
ideal  that  has  never  been  embodied,  and  that  rests  on 
no  foundation,  but  hangs,  as  it  were,  in  the  air  by  a 
thread  tied  to  the  future.  Such  an  ideal  cannot  ac- 
complish results.  It  has  no  compulsive  power.  It  is, 
if  anything,  an  attractive  picture;  but  not  a  rigoristic 
driving  force.     Only  religion  furnishes  such  an  ideal. 


,1 


tf 


)  m 


I!' 11 


ill 
if  I 


ll 
ill 


134  Three  Types  of  Practicd  Ethical  Movements 

Etiics  without  religion  cannot  exist  This  is  the  ^r^ 
i»f  the  theological  argument  and  this  is  its  criticism 
of  the  Ethical  Culture  Movement 

The  philosopher  likewise  sees  difficuti^  '\t^Z 
movement  which  he  presses  for  clarifica  ion.  Jtere  a^^ 
two  kindred  difficulties  which  the  P^^^^^^P^^^^^^ 
forward.    One  difficulty  is  mooted  l^  Aep^ 

idealist;  the  other  by  the  Pl^A^«.^P^^f.^^^^^^^^ 
pragmatist.    The  idealist's  criticism  of  the  ^^^^^^^^^^ 
Movement  is  aimed  mainly  against  ^1^^//^^^^^^^^^^^ 
Pure  Ethical  Movement  takes  m  regard  to  what  is  ulti- 
mately real.     To  the  question  of  ultimate  -eali^^^^^^^^ 
Pure  Ethical  Movement  takes  an  indifferent  attituae, 
but  the  philosophical  idealist  looks  upon  this  question  as 
of  primary  im^rtance;  and  like  die  theologian,  mak^ 
his  ethical  practice  spring  from  his  conception  of  ulti- 
mate reality.    His  reasoning  runs  thus:  To  emphasize 
right  conduct  is  very  well;  but  right  conduct  depends 
upon  right  knowledge  of  what  is  real.     To  neglect  the 
investigation  of  what  is  real  is  to  neglect  the  guide  to 
the  riffht.    Hence  you  cannot  have  an  ethics  without  a 
conception  of  what  constitutes  reality.     The  s^nd 
philosophical  objection  to  the  attitude   of  the  rure 
Ethical  Movement,  comes  from  the  realist  and  the  prag- 
matist and  is  directed  against  the  claim  of  the  Ethical 
Movement  that  no  theory  of  right  conduct,  but  the  prae- 
tice  of  right  conduct  is  the  essential  thing  in  an  ethical 
movement.    It  is  directed  against  the  position  taken  by 
Professor  Adler  when  he  says:  ^^Our  bond  of  union  is 
not  a  common  doctrine  but  a  common  practice.         ^ 

But  to  the  philosopher,  the  practice  of  the  rigM 
without  a  theory  of  the  right  seems  incomprehen^ble. 
To  him  the  two  cannot  be  so  far  separated  as  the  Pure 
Ethical  Movement  separates  them.    The  realist  and  the 

» Jntemationai  Joumat  o/  BtM€9,  V.  1. 


The  Pure  Ethical  Movement 


135 


pragmatist,  who  do  not  worry  about  the  ultimate  nature 
of  reality  deny  the  possibility  of  practicing  the  right 
without  a  theory  of  the  right.  Theory  is  but  the  act 
in  idea,  and  practice  is  nothing  more  than  the  idea 
crystallized  into  act.  Theory  and  practice  go  every- 
where together.  "Theory,"  says  Professor  Dewey,  "is 
the  cross  section  of  the  given  state  of  action  in  order 
to  know  the  conduct  that  should  be;  practice  is  the 
realization  of  the  idea  thus  gained;  it  is  theory  in 
action."  ^ 

The  position  of  the  theologian  and  of  the^  philosopher 
is  essentially  the  same  in  regard  to  the  attitude  of  the 
Ethical  Movement  toward  reality.  Against  this  atti- 
tude they  make  common  cause.  Only  there  is  this  dif- 
ference to  be  noted  between  the  theologian  and  the 
philosopher:  The  former  says  that  what  constitutes 
reality  must  be  found  by  the  present  exercise  of  reason 
or  ascertained  in  and  through  daily  experience;  the 
latter  says  that  what  constitutes  reality  is  found  in 
faith,  faith  in  the  fact  that  there  was  an  act  of  revela- 
tion of  reality. 

At  the  very  launching  of  the  Ethical  Culture  Move- 
ment, it  thus  became  necessary  to  defend  it  against 
the  theologian's  charge  that  on  the  one  hand  the  new 
movement  is  irreligious  in  taking  no  cognizance  of 
the  holy  past,  and  that  on  the  other  hand  it  is  fantas- 
tic and  flighty  in  grounding  its  base  in  the  future. 
It  had  to  defend  both  its  negative  attitude  towards  the 
ideal  of  the  past,  and  its  positive  teaching  in  regard 
to  its  ideal  of  the  future. 

It  denied  at  once  that  its  indifference  to  particular 
religious  beliefs  is  an  irreligious  attitude.  It  is  true 
that  the  Ethical  Culture  Movement  does  not  concern  it- 
self with  theories  of  Being  in  any  shape ;  that  it  disre- 

^  Intematiimal  Journal  of  Ethics,  Vol.  1,  p.  203. 


u 


f  I       if  \ 

V    :t 


11^ 


i' 


11 


Three  Types  of  Practical  Ethical  Movements 

mrds  even  the  theory  of  the  existence  of  a  Supreme 
Being,  and  seeks  to  divorce  eonduct  from  theory  com- 
pletely.  Yet  these  facts  do  not  warrant  the  theologian 
in  launching  against  the  movement  the  charge  that  it  is 
irreligious.  They  warrant  merely  the  belief  that  there 
is  a  misconception  as  to  the  meaning  of  religion. 

Indeed,  the  Ethical  Movement  f oi-thwith  proceeded  to 
define  its  own  conception  of  religion.    It  distinguishes 
the  concept  religion  from  the  concept  morality.     Mo- 
rality consists  in  ^^obedience  to  the  principle  of  unity, 
which    reveals    itself    as    the    primary    principle    of 
ethics."  ^     Keligion  is  grounded  in  this  conception  o± 
moralitv  and  draws  strength  from  it.    "Religion  is  that 
sense  of  duty  which  comes  after  obedience  to  the  prin- 
ciple of  unity."  2    The  Ethical  Movement  thus  takes  a 
higher  view  of 'religion  than  the  theological  view  takes. 
The  ethical  view  implies  that  we  must  first  be  moral  and 
then  we  will  have  the  genuine  religious  feeling  which 
comes  only  after  the  moral  experience.  ^  It  looks  upon 
religious  experience  as  a  feeling  of  genuine  satisfaction 
v^hich  is  obtained  after  one  has  gone  through  the  purg- 
ing which  every  moral  achievement  effects.  ^ 

It  is  absurd  to  criticise  such  a  conception  as  irreli- 
gious. In  fact  this  is  not  only  not  a  negative  attitude 
towards  religion,  but  a  genuinely  positive  attitude 
towards  it;  it  strictly  enjoins  us  to  go  through  the  purg- 
ing moral  flame ;  and  thereby  it  also  directs  towards  the 

religious  state  of  mind.  ,,.«,.         ,.  .      ,   i 

That  this  is  a  better  method  of  finding  religion  help- 
ful than  is  the  theological  method,  history  itself  indi- 
cates. To  how  many  has  religion,  understood  in  the  old 
way,  been  a  moral  cleansing?  Have  not  the  staunchest 
believers  in  the  holy  past  been  the  most  ferocious  ex- 
ponents of  brotherly  hate  ?    Has  the  conception  of  a  re- 

» Felix  A41ei,  in  Unitarian  Review,  1885. 


The  Pure  Ethical  Movement 


137 


vealed  past  been  a  sufficient  restraining  hand  upon  the 
exercise  of  wrong  conduct,  and  an  impelling  force 
towards  the  exercise  of  right  conduct  ?  Look  at  history 
and  you  have  a  negative  answer  at  every  step  of  advanc- 
ing time.  Right  conduct  must  be  based  on  a  principle 
other  than  the  existence  of  a  divine  past.  If  the  result 
of  the  old  method  has  been  unsatisfactory  why  not  try  a 
new  method  ?  First  remove  the  hate,  and  then  perhaps 
you  may  find  yourself  religious. 

Its  positive  attitude  towards  an  ideal  of  the  future 
which  the  theologians  thought  chimerical,  it  defends 
on  scientific  grounds.  Familiarity  with  the  past-,  which 
scientific  investigation  has.  brought  aboui^  rendered 
that  past  less  august,  and  less  compelling  as  an  ethical 
force.  All  past  is  of  the  same  value  for  this  compelling 
purpose,  and  equally  fruitless.  Evolutionary  theories 
have  brought  low  the  cherished  deities  that  sat  on  high. 
Ideals  of  the  past  have  become  past  idols  that  are 
shattered  by  the  very  throngs  that  worshipped  them. 
An  ideal,  to  be  an  ideal  must  be  out  of  r^ch  of  pol- 
luting hands,  and  such  place  is  found  only  in  the  fu- 
ture. There  alone  does  sacredness  lie.  It  is  to  the 
star  of  the  future  that  our  wagon  must  be  hitched. 
The  moral  ideal  can  rest  nowhere  else.  In  its  past 
location  it  was  not  revered.  A  light  that  is  behind  does 
not  serve  as  a  proper  guide.  A  light  must  be  towards 
the  front,  forward,  in  the  future;  and  this,  the  ethical 
ideal  attempts  to  be. 

More  difficult  is  11:  to  give  an  answer  to  the  philo- 
sophical criticisms  of  the  Pure  Ethical  Movement.  An 
argument  ad  hominem  does  not  apply  so  well  here. 
The  Platonic  claim  that  right  conduct  derives  its 
warrant  from  a  knowledge  of  what  is  real,  a  claim 
which  idealists  ever  since  Plato's  day  have  repeated,  can- 
not according  to  Prof.  Adler  be  a  valid  claim,  for  the 


it  I 


\ ' 


III 


188  Three  Types  of  Practical  Ethical  Movements 

natTiTe  of  reality  has  never  been  universally  established 
and  is  no  more  universally  accepted  now  than  are  the 
various  religious  dogmas.     To  await  the  discovery  of 
the  constitution  of  reality  before  we  are  to  act  morally 
is  of  course  out  of  the  question.    The  nature  of  reality 
may  never  be  established.     What  are  we  to  do  mean- 
while ?    The  Ethical  Culturist  answers :  We  are  to  act 
regardless  of  what  the  real  may  be,  and  guide  ourselves 
by  an  ideal  that  we  ourselves  create.    He  says  to  the 
philosopher:  You  demand  a  theory  for  right  conduct. 
Very  well.    Such  a  theory  will  reveal  itself  in  the  course 
of  conduct.     First,  act;  and  the  action  will  show  you 
what  is  right  and  wrong  in  theory.    The  theory  will  be 
forthcoming  in  the  course  of  action.    In  the  course  of 
such  action  we  shall  find  the  ideal  becoming  more  and 
more  real.     Eeality  is  not  something  that  is.     It  is 
something  that  becomes.     The  real  is  made  real;  not 
found  such.     Moral  conduct  is  the  anvil  upon  which 
111©  real  is  beaten  out  of  the  ideal.    Every  act  of  ours 
fashions  a  bit  of  reality.    We  know  somewhat  more  as 
to  what  constitutes  reality  after  every  moral  experience 
of  our  lives.     The  nature  of  reality  cannot  be  precon- 
ceived.   Its  conception  follows  upon  activity. 

For  verification  of  this  doctrine  the  ethical  view 
invites  the  idealist  to  search  among  his  own  experiences. 
No  doubt  you  find  "eye-openers"  in  every  moral  act. 
These  "eye-openers"  are  the  bits  of  reality  which  your 
moral  conduct  beats  out  of  the  situation  in  which  you 
find  yourself  confronted  with  an  obstacle.  The  real 
is  that  which  satisfies  the  demands  of  a  situation.  Thid 
is  exactly  the  position  of  the  pragmatist  in  regard  to 
truth.  The  Ethical  Movement  and  the  Pragmatic 
Movement  are  at  one  on  this  point:  Eeality  is  ham- 
mered out  of  a  situation. 

This  is  as  far  as  they  go  togeUier.    The  pragmatist 


The  Pure  Ethical  Movement 


139 


changes  his  reality  with  changes  in  situations;  the 
ethicist  sees  danger  in  a  reality  that  vacillates.  The 
times  require  nothing  so  much  as  a  rigoristic  ethics. 
The  ideal  which  we  see  loom  up  at  every  step  of  our 
conduct,  the  great  ideal  of  the  future  which  in  each  act 
we  fashion  into  reality  and  which  on  all  occasions  we 
either  promote  or  thwart — ^this  is  the  iron  law,  the 
rigor  of  the  moral  law,  from  which  we  cannot  escape. 
Every  situation  reveals  the  same  truth.  The  prag- 
matist's  truth  is  different.  It  is  not  universal.  Truth 
shifts  according  to  the  shifts  in  the  situation.  No 
universal  ideal  looms  up  for  the  pragmatist  on  all  occa- 
sions. One  particular  truth  is  all  he  sees  and  is  satis- 
fied with,  in  each  situation. 

The  pragmatist's  doctrine  that  theory  belongs  to  a 
definite  situation,  and  is  true  if  it  satisfies  the  require- 
ments of  that  situation,  must  be  clearly  differentiated 
from  the  ethical  doctrine  that  the  ideal  is  to  be  wrought 
into  the  real  in  every  situation,  and  that  the  value  of 
an  act  is  tested  by  the  magnitude  of  the  ideal  that  has 
been  thus  realized.  The  pragmatist's  "situation"  may 
be  looked  upon  as  an  equation  of  one  unknown  term. 
The  X  of  the  "situation"  is  the  theory  which  satisfies 
the  terms  of  the  equation,  and  its  truth  is  determinable 
with  regard  to  that  "situation"  and  no  other,  just  as  the 
value  of  X  in  one  equation  may  be  different  from  its 
value  in  another  equation.  The  ethical  theory  is  some- 
thing more  permanent  than  that.  It  is  an  absolute  X, 
an  eternal  non-changeable  quantity  ascertainable,  to  be 
sure,  like  the  truth  of  the  pragmatist  in  the  heat  of  the 
conduct  which  a  "situation"  requires,  but  it  is  not  only 
to  be  applicable  to  that  particular  "situation,"  it  must 
immediately  be  applied  to  another  "situation"  and  to 
still  another  without  end.  Where  the  pragmatist's  "sit- 
uation" may  be  considered  as  a  simple  equation,  that  of 


!f 


ki^ 


140  Three  Types  of  Practical  Ethical  Movements 

lim  pure  ethicist  may  be  considered  as  a  simultaneous  or 
a  quadratic  equation ;  the  X  not  only  suits  a  particular 
equation  but  all  the  equations.  For  a  rigoristic  ethics 
the  pragmatic  movement  will  never  do. 

The  Ethical  Movement  puts  up  a  clear  defense, 
first  against  the  theologian's  scorn  of  an  ethics  that  is 
not  grounded  upon  the  will  of  God  as  manifested  in  the 
past;  second,  against  the  idealistic  philosopher's  con- 
tention that  it  is  impossible  to  have  an  ethics  without  a 
theory  of  reality  antedating  it;  third,  it  differentiates 
itself  from  the  pragmatic  philosopher's  doctrine  that  the 
theory  of  the  right  manifests  itself  variously  in  particu- 
lar situations.  Its  differences  from  the  past  are  dear, 
and  the  movement  is  in  every  sense  a  new  movement  It 
has  introduced  a  new  ideal — an  ideal  in  line  with  evo- 
lutionary science  and  yet  above  it. 

(6)     The  Value  of  Such  an  Attitude  to  Reality 

It  is  then  in  the  new  location  of  the  ideal  that  the 
Pure  Ethical  Movement  differs  from  other  practical 
movements.  Now  let  us  inquire  after  the  value  of  such  a 
location.  We  may  estimate  the  value  of  this  ideal  that 
has  its  sanctuary  in  the  future,  by  analyzing  the  effect  it 
has  upon  the  ordinary  man,  upon  the  sinner,  upon  the 
saint  and  upon  the  social  whole.  And  the  effects  of  such 
an  ideal  upon  these  we  may  compare  with  the  effects  of 
the  older  ideals  upon  them. 

The  ordinary  mortal  in  the  light  of  the  older  ideals 
was  of  the  sheep  type,  possessed  of  no  creativeness  or 
spontaneity.  There  was  no  need  of  any;  for  is  not 
God  in  his  heaven?  All's  then  well  with  the  world. 
Such  is  the  attitude  which  the  old  ideals  stimulated. 
"The  Lord  is  my  shepherd ;  I  shall  not  want"  is  typical 
of  the  stand  taken  by  the  commonalty.    It  casts  the  bur- 


The  Pure  Ethical  Movement 


141 


den  upon  its  ideal  and  then  folds  its  arms.  This  type 
simply  basks  in  the  light  of  its  ideal,  and  why  not  ?  To 
bask  in  the  sunlight  is  the  proper  thing  to  do,  when 
perfection  already  exists  and  has  existed  through  all  the 
past.  Prayer  and  prescribed  rites  are  thus  the  only 
substitutes  for  energetic  labor  in  cases  of  distress. 

All  this  is  the  logical  outcome  of  the  ideal  of  the 
past.  It  failed  to  evoke  spontaneous  energy  in  human 
hearts.  A  guiding  hand  had  always  to  be  stretched  out 
before  there  could  be  active  work  from  the  vast  mass  of 
the  people.  The  new  ideal  offers  no  such  sinecures,  nor 
such  delusive  hopes.  The  ordinary  man  is  himself 
goaded  on  by  it,  to  put  forth  efforts  to  realize  that 
which  is  not  yet.  He  cannot  dare  sit  by  the  wayside  and 
wait.  The  ideal  is  in  the  future;  and  to  make  it  present 
is  part  of  his  eternal  task.  Prayers  are  here  no  sub- 
stitute for  effort.  In  the  light  of  the  new  ideal,  the 
ordinary  man  who  rested  on  his  oars  under  the  old 
ideals  and  watched  the  few  sturdy  ones  put  forth  their 
sturdy  strokes,  is  enjoined  to  pull  at  his  own  oars;  to 
consider  himself  in  his  own  eyes  a  sovereign  soul  whose 
active  cooperation  is  indispensable  in  the  ever-present 
task  of  making  the  ideal,  which  is  always  in  the  future, 
partially  fulfill  itself  in  the  present. 

The  logic  of  the  new  ideal  demands  a  new  adjust- 
ment from  the  complacent  throngs  who  merely  follow 
the  paths  beaten  out  for  them  by  the  few  of  the  heroic 
type.  The  new  ideal  acts  as  a  stimulant  to  the  ordinary 
mortal,  where  the  older  one  was  satisfied  with  his  mere 
complacency.  In  the  light  of  the  new  ideal,  he  feels 
pressing  upon  him  a  task  which  he,  as  well  as  the 
greatest  of  mortals,  can  perform,  if  not  quite  ade- 
quately, yet  to  a  measurable  degree.  He  feels  himself 
a  common  not  in  the  midst  of  peers  but  amidst  other 
commons.     The  old  ideals  were  the  aristocratic  ones. 


f 


lit 

I 


142  Three  Types  of  Pradicd  Ethicat  Movements 

There  were  always  a  favored  few,  favored  by  grace 
or  by  a  covenant,  who  had  the  advantage  at  the  court 
nf  tib©  ideal.  The  new  ideal  is  democratic.  In  its 
f resence  all  feel  of  equal  rank.  TliliA  ^m^  is  a  more 
encouraging  outlook  opened  by  the  ideal  that  resides 
in  the  future. 

Secondly  the  treatment  which  the  penitent  sinner  has 
feceived  in  the  light  of  the  old  ideals  is  one  that  evokes 
is  us  not  unmixed  feelings  of  approval.  We  indeed 
share  the  joy  of  the  master  to  whom  the  stray  sheep 
has  returned;  but  at  the  same  time  we  feel  that  the 
earessings  which  are  bestowed  by  the  master  upon  the 
strayed  sheep  are  out  of  all  proportion  to  the  complacent 
indifference  with  which  the  sheep  that  had  not  strayed 
are  treated.  From  them  obedience  is  demanded  as  a 
matter  of  course ;  and  so  no  extra  favors  need  be  show* 
ered  upon  them.  Only  the  over-active  ones,  those  that 
run  amuck  once  in  a  while  and  cause  some  damage, 
only  those  who  make  a  noise  in  the  world  and  become 
the  leaders  perhaps  of  terrorking  bands,  need  to  be 
caressed  and  patted  and  pandered  and  bribed  to  stay  in 
the  fold  and  not  be  inclined  to  run  away  again.  The 
penitent  sinner,  the  strayed  sheep  that  has  returned, 
hm  under  the  old  ideal  been  treated  better  than  the 
saints,  the  sheep  that  have  ever  followed  the  path  that 
leads  home. 

No  wonder  then  that  a  saint,  goaded  on  by  the  in- 
justice which  partiality  to  the  penitent  sinner  involves 
exclaimed,  "I  wish  I  had  sinned  as  that  penitent  had, 
provided  also,  I  could  have  done  penance  such  as  he 
has  done."  Why  should  it  be  so?  Does  not  such  dis- 
crimination smack  of  injustice  to  the  ever  faithful? 
When  we  read  in  the  Bible  the  passages  that  deal  with 
this  problem,  are  not  our  feelings  of  approval  of  the 
divine  compassion  mingled  with  a  sense  of  injustice 


The  Pure  Ethical  Movement 


143 


done  to  those  who  have  never  needed  the  divine  com- 
passion? Should  the  penitent  fare  better  than  the 
saint?  There  seems  something  insincere,  something 
that  savors  of  mere  coaxing  and  even  of  moral  bribery 
in  the  principle  that  the  repentant  sinner  is  to  be  more 
highly  honored  than  the  unfallen  saint. 

Still,  in  the  light  of  the  old  ideals,  the  fact  of  sin 
remains  nevertheless.  It  remains  a  hidden  stain  which 
might  at  any  time  be  brought  to  light  by  the  sovereign 
who  for  the  present  chooses  to  hide  it.  We  can  very 
well  imagine  the  penitent  not  being  quite  at  ease  in  the 
company  of  the  never-fallen  righteous  and  not  quite 
feeling  on  a  par  with  the  other  good  people,  who  are 
standing  before  their  God.  Can  the  righteous  feel 
that  perfect  justice  is  done  in  thus  blotting  out  of  sin,  as 
if  it  had  not  been  a  fact  recorded  in  time?  May  not 
the  saints  logically  expect  that  the  ideal  of  the  past  time 
should  not  blot  out  a  deed  committed  in  past  time? 
No,  the  old  ideal  seems  unjust  and  seems  to  contradict 
itself  in  its  treatment  of  the  penitent. 

How  does  the  penitent  fare  under  the  new  ideal? 
He  is  treated  as  one  who  sees  the  light  for  the  first 
time;  not  as  one  who  having  seen  it  turned  his  back 
on  it;  for  there  was  no  light  except  the  one  that  he 
chose  to  kindle.  He  is  a  new  recruit  among  the  ranks 
of  those  who  actively  realize  the  ideal.  His  past  fail- 
ings are  not  recorded;  they  are  not  even  potentially 
existent,  and  so  cannot  be  over  him  as  the  sword  of 
Damocles  to  smite  him  should  he  ever  fail  again.  He 
does  not  need  to  feel  uneasy  in  the  presence  of  the  ideal 
which  he  is  now  serving,  for  the  ideal  has  no  memory 
to  make  comparisons  between  him  and  the  other  saints, 
or  to  recall  his  former  defections  or  to  tax  him 
with  them  in  case  of  a  second  defection;  he  is  not  in 
the  presence  of  some  potentate  who  at  any  time  might 


i 


ri 


144  Three  Types  of  Pra^^ticd  Ethicd  Movements 

recall  to  him  his  former  sins.  Nor  is  he  pandered  by 
profuse  kindnesses;  for  the  new  ideal  is  not  a  store- 
house whence  he  may  receive  more  or  less  from  the 
/storekeeper.  He  is  himself  the  source  of  power.  The 
^  harvest  must  be  gathered  by  each  one  himself  and  each 
gets  what  he  earns;  no  more,  nor  less.  Surely  this  is 
more  equable  than  where  the  penitent  receives  more 
than  the  saint.  Here,  the  ideal  is  the  field  of  his  opera- 
tions and  depends  upon  him  for  realization.  To  the 
fepentant  sinner,  what  an  incentive  it  is  to  exert  his 
energy  in  the  face  of  an  ideal  which  is  in  the  future  and 
|)eckons  to  him  to  employ  his  autonomous  sovereignty 
in  lending  a  hand  to  fulfill  and  realize  the  ideal  at  least 
partially.  No  such  incentive  is  comprehensible  in  the 
face  of  an  ideal  that  already  has  existence. 

And  thirdly,  the  saint,  how  does  he  fare  ?  The  saint 
and  the  penitent  differ  from  the  ordinary  man  in  being 
rigorously  active  and  not  complacently  passive  in 
achieving  something.  Under  the  old  ideals,  their 
achievements,  their  prodigious  efforts  are  like  the  child's 
exertion  about  a  little  task  which  the  parent  sets  before 
it  for  the  amusement  and  delight  of  its  sire,  who  looks 
on  the  labor  of  the  child  and  thinks  what  a  trifling 
task  it  would  be  for  himself  to  accomplish.  Yet  he  does 
mot  do  the  task  himself.  He  gets  joy  out  of  the  puny 
efforts  of  the  child.  It  is  not  the  fact  that  these  at- 
tempts of  the  child  help  to  develop  it,  that  prompts  the 
parent  to  set  the  task.  His  own  enjoyment,  he  desires 
to  draw  out  of  it.  Something  similar  is  the  attitude 
of  the  old  ideals  towards  the  efforts  of  the  saints  who 
heave  and  toil  before  the  eyes  of  their  ideal.  It  is  all 
useless  toil ;  for  if  the  accomplishment  of  the  task  were 
desired,  their  perfect  ideal  could  by  a  fiat,  in  the 
twinkling  of  an  eye,  bring  it  about.  The  activity  of 
the  saint  is  unintelligible  to  the  ordinary  complacent 


The  Pure  Ethical  Movement 


145 


mortal  who  watches  him  laboriously  toiling  instead  of 
leaving  to  the  will  of  God  to  achieve,  in  an  instant, 
what  requires  centuries  of  human  labor. 

There  is  a  radical  difference  in  the  attitude  with 
which,  under  the  new  ideal,  the  saint's  efforts  are 
viewed.  The  work  must  be  done  by  him,  or  it  is  not 
done  at  all ;  for  there  is  no  one  else  to  do  it.  The  world 
depends  on  him  for  that  task.  He  alone  can  do  that 
particular  work.  How  significant — ^how  indispensable 
the  saint  thus  becomes !  No  longer  the  child's  play  is 
his  effort.  It  is  serious  tragic  work  he  is  perform- 
ing. He  is  creating.  Something  that  is  not,  is  being 
wrought  into  something  that  is,  and  he  is  himself  the 
smith  that  does  it.  How  hollow  is  the  cry :  "Why  did 
I  not  sin  and  then  repent;  for  I  would  have  shared 
a  greater  reward?"  Mankind  under  the  new  ideal 
receives  an  importance  which  under  the  old  ideals  it 
never  had. 

And  fourthly,  how  does  mankind  as  a  whole  fare  in 
the  light  of  the  new  ideal  ?  Under  the  old  ideals,  man- 
kind is  simply  an  aggregate  of  individuals.  The 
Kingdom  of  God  was  for  the  glory  of  God.  The 
Kingdom  is  that  state  wherein  this  aggregate  of 
humanity  will  look  up  to  the  ideal  and  bow  before  it. 
It  involved  very  little  of  the  organic  relationship  which 
society  is  now,  conceptually  at  least,  intertwined  in. 
The  Kingdom  of  God  was  simply  this  aggregate  of 
warring  atoms  beating  their  swords  into  plowshares  and 
not  into  cooperative  machinery.  The  idea  of  coopera- 
tion was  not  emphasized.  In  the  light  of  the  new  ideal, 
mankind  is  the  social  whole  and  the  social  whole  in- 
cludes the  mankind  of  to-morrow  as  well.  This  social 
whole,  cooperating  harmoniously  together  is  the  very 
ideal  of  the  future.  There  is  no  other.  The  social 
whole  is  prompted  to  greater  exertion  because  the  ideal 


t^ 


I 


146   Three  Types  of  Practical  Ethical  Movemerds 

ii  identified  with  the  large  social  whole  which  embraces 

posterity  in  its  scope. 

The  ideal  is  not  something  apart  from  the  unity  of 
the  whole  thus  broadly  conceived.     It  is  nothing  but 
that  unity  of  the  social  body.    To  realize  the  ideal  is, 
then,  for  the  social  community  identical  with  realizing 
itself.    Under  the  old  order,  where  the  identity  is  not 
established  between  the  ideal  and  the  social  whole,  ^the 
incentive  to  realize  the  social  good  was  remote.  ^^  "Iii 
the  race  after  eternity,"  said  an  Italian  monk,  '  each 
soul  looks  out  for  its  own  interest."     There  was  no 
inducement  to  work  for  the  social  good;  or  perhaps 
the  inducement  to  it  came  from  the  knowledge  that  it 
meets  with  the  approval  of  the  creator— an  ideal  not 
identified  with  the  social  good.     The  inducement  to 
charity,  to  political  and  economic  justice,  came  not 
from  duty  to  the  social  whole,  but  from  a  divine  com- 
mand ;  and  the  divinity  was  something  above  and  be- 
yond that  social  whole  whose  good  is  sought  for  realiza- 
tion.    Such  is  not  the  New  Kingdom.     In  the  New 
Kingdom,  each  is  sovereign.    There  need  be  no  bowing 
df  the  knees  or  singing  of  hallelujahs,  for  the  ideal  of 
the  future  cannot  possibly  require  it. 

The  ideal  of  the  future  is  a  rational  ideal,  justifying 
itself  at  all  points  completely.     There  is  nothing  more 
unsatisfactory  and  distressing  in  the  old  ideals,  than 
the  palliatives  which  are  applied  to  them  to  make  them 
measure  up  to  the  demands  of  advanced  ethics  and 
progressive  thought.     Theologians  have  for  centuries 
worried  their  heads  so  that  they  might  find  some  way  of 
patching  up  the  flaws  which  the  old  structures  con- 
stantly reveal.    To  the  philosophic  mind,  there  always 
creeps  out  a  new  flaw  no  matter  how  favorably  the 
theologian  has  tried  to  patch  up  defects.     The  new 


The  Pure  Ethical  Movement 


147 


ideal  needs  no  palliatives  and  this  is  one  of  the  most 
encouraging  signs  of  its  rationality  and  strength. 

To  sum  up:  The  ideal  of  the  future  opens  up  a  hope 
to  mankind  which  no  other  ideal  has  opened.  Of  that 
ideal  all  mankind  are  equally  sharers,  simply  through 
the  fact  that  it  lies  in  the  futura  This  is  of  tremen- 
dous importance.  This  simple  fact  takes  from  birth- 
right all  claims  for  preferment ;  and  from  covenanters 
the  distinction  of  being  a  chosen  people,  on  whom  the 
priesthood  of  all  mankind  has  forever  been  bestowed 
as  a  heritage.  Favoritism,  cosmic  favoritism  was  char- 
acteristic of  the  ideals  whose  hey-day  was  in  days 
gone  by.  They  la6ked  universality  through  their 
favoritism.  They  were  responsible  for  the  adjectives 
that  divided  the  world  into  Jew  and  Gentile,  into 
Greek  and  barbarian.  They  were  responsible  for  the 
classes  that  divided  a  nation  into  aristocrat  and 
plebeian.  The  old  ideals  lacked  rejuvenating  power. 
The  fate  of  each  human  being  was  decided  beforehand. 
It  was  useless  to  attempt  to  rise  out  of  one's  caste. 
There  was  no  invigorating  power  in  the  ideal.  There 
was  no  new  birth  possible  after  one's  birth  had  once 
taken  place. 

The  philosophic  ideals  have  little  to  do  with  saints 
or  penitents.  They  are  primarily  the  ideals  to  guide 
the  ordinary  and  to  strengthen  the  sinner.  How  does 
the  influence  which  the  ideal  of  the  philosophic  idealist 
has  over  the  sinner,  compare  with  that  which  the 
ethical  ideal  has  over  him  ?  But  two  types  of  idealists 
need  be  considered — the  Platonic  type  and  the  Hegelian 
type.  The  ideal  of  the  former  is  an  individualization 
of  a  class.  The  ideal  is,  according  to  it,  that  individual 
which  is  obtained  through  a  process  of  generalization  of 
all  the  attributes  that  comprise  a  class  of  objects.    It  is 


If} 


148  Three  Types  of  Practical  Ethical  Movements 

general  in  regard  to  the  attributes  of  the  objects  of  the 
dass ;  but  per  se  it  is  an  individuated  being.    There  are 
then  as  many  Ideas  or  Ideals— for  the  two  are  identi* 
fiable  to  Platonists— as  there  are  classes  of  objects. 
These  ideals  are  perfect  forms  having  an  etem^  exist- 
once  and  so  are  outside  of  time  and  space.     Human 
endeavor  cannot  in  any  way  affect  them ;  nor  can  human 
strivings  reproduce  them.     Such  reproduction,  were  it 
possible,  would  bring  into  existence  a  second  Ideal 
similar  in  every  respect  to  the  first,  for  which  there 
would  be  no  possible  use.     Fortunately,  such  perfect 
reproduction  is  not  possible,  for  reproduction  m  itself 
implies  creation  and  the  created  cannot  be  eternal. 
If  either  the  ordinary  man  nor  the  sinner  is  in  any  way 
moved  by  an  ideal  which  he  caimot  effect  and  which 
cannot  affect  him.    What  incentive  is  there  to  realize 
imperfectly  that  which  already  exists  in  perfect  form  ? 
True,  we,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  strive  to  reproduce  as 
nearly  as  possible  the  ideal ;  but  the  incentive  to  strive 
does  not  come  from  the  ideal ;  for  if  it  did,  that  incentive 
would  affect  all  alike  and  all  would  strive  to  realize  it. 
There  could  therefore  be  no  sinners  in  the  world.    An 
ideal  that  already  has  an  existence,  is  a  contradictory 
concept  and  is  given  direct  blunt  denial  by  the  very 
fact  that  there  are  sinners  in  the  world.    For  it  cannot 
be  a  perfect  ideal,  if  it  tolerates  the  existence  of  beings 
who  fall  short  of  the  ordinary  man's  approach  to  the 
ideal.     The  perfect  that  fails  to  make  others  perfect 
is,  in  so  far,  not  perfect.    The  Platonic  ideal  cannot  be 
a  practical  ideal ;  for  in  practice  it  fails  to  make  man- 
kind approach  it     It  is  a  noetic  ideal  purely.     The 
ethical  ideal  must  be  a  practical  ideal.    What  use  is 
there  for  an  ideal  virtue  existing  as  an  individuated 
concept  of  a  dass  of  virtuous  acts,  if  that  ideal  virtue 
cannot  make  others  virtuous?    The  ethical  ideal  aims 


I%e  Pure  Ethical  Movement 


149 


to  make  men  active  creators  of  the  ideal,  and  that  the 
Platonic  type  cannot  do. 

The  second  idealistic  type  is  the  Hegelian  and  is  best 
worked  out  by  Bradley.  According  to  this  type,  the 
ideal  is  Absolute.  Every  individuated  form  is  a  par- 
tial view  of  this  Absolute,  and  so  imperfect.  Every  act, 
as  a  particular  act,  thus  falls  short  of  the  Absolute  act 
and,  as  a  partial  act,  is  imperfect.  But  imperfect 
though  it  is,  it  is  an  act  of  the  Absolute.  Its  imperfec- 
tion is  not  an  imperfection  from  the  Absolute's  point 
of  view;  for  from  the  Absolute  point  of  view  the  act 
is  a  necessary  act,  and  cannot  be  imperfect  Only 
from  the  partial  point  of  view  can  the  act  be  called 
imperfect.  From  this  point  of  view,  the  sinner  is  a 
necessary  part  of  the  Absolute  and  his  sinful  act  is  not 
sinful  from  the  Absolute's  point  of  view,  but  from  the 
sinner's  point  of  view  alone.  Thus  also  every  error  is 
a  partial  truth.  The  degree  of  readjustment  required 
to  make  one  act,  as  compared  with  another,  measure  up 
to  the  Absolute,  alone  determines  its  value  as  good  or 
bad,  as  truth  or  error.  While  this  is  a  highly  plausible 
view,  yet  there  is  this  drawback  to  it:  as  a  practical 
ethics  it  fails  in  compelling  the  sinner  to  act  in  such 
other  way  as  will  not  necessitate  so  great  a  degree  of 
readjustment  to  bring  his  act  up  to  the  view-point  of 
an  Absolute  act  The  crux  of  the  matter  lies  here :  Is 
the  Absolute  an  efficient  force  by  means  of  which  a 
human  soul  will  act  in  such  a  way  as  to  require  the 
'  least  amount  of  readjustment  to  make  that  act  a  perfect 
act?  I  answer:  The  Absolute  as  an  idea  may  be  effi- 
cient; but  the  Absolute,  as  existent,  cannot  be  such; 
for  to  the  Absolute  as  existent,  every  wrong  act  is  its 
own  act  partially  viewed.  And  no  imperative  can  come 
forth  from  an  ideal  that  itself  performs  in  general, 
what  it  condemns  in  particular.    The  Absolute  as  total 


I 


150  Three  Types  of  Practical  Ethical  Movements 

view-pomt  may  serve  as  an  imperative,  ordering  the 
realization  in  existential  reality  of  what  is  expressed 
m  idea  only.  But  the  Absolute  as  an  existent  cannot 
perform  that  function. 

The  ethical  ideal  makes  the  distinction  between  an 
Absolute  idea  and  Absolute  reality,  and  can  therefore 
command  the  realization  of  this  reality  whose  idea  alone 
as  yet  exists. 

(IV)   The  Nature  of  the  Ethical  Ideal  and  Its 

Historic  Sources 

The  Pure  Ethical  Movement  has  thus  far  been  dis- 
cussed from  the  point  of  view  of  the  locus  of  the  ethical 
ideal,  wherein  we  found  one  of  the  distinctive  features 
of  the  Pure  Ethical  Movement.  There  is  another  dia^ 
tinctive  feature  of  the  Pure  Ethical  Movement  which 
aow  requires  our  attention.  This  is  the  nature  of  the 
reality  of  the  ethical  ideal. 

The  reality  of  the  ethical  ideal  is  a  hypothetical 
reality.  This,  the  very  locus  of  the  ethical  ideal  re- 
quires; for  what  is  in  the  future  possesses  merely 
hypothetical  reality.  There  is,  however,  a  difference 
between  this  hypothetical  reality  of  the  ethical  ideal 
and  the  inferential  reality  of  the  Kantian  postulates 
©f  the  Sunmium  Bonum.  The  latter  is  inferential  and 
possesses  thereby  greater  claim  to  reality.  It  is  not 
hypothetical,  despite  the  inferential  origin,  and  does 
not  issue  forth  the  categorical  imperative.  The 
ethical  ideal  not  only  is  hypothetical  in  character  but 
despite  this  peculiar  character  it  nevertheless  is  the 
source  of  the  categorical  imperativa 

The  ethical  ideal  differs,  furthermore,  from  the 
Kantian  ethical  theory  in  that  the  latter  makes  no  pro- 
fimm  for  an  ethical  end,  whereas  the  ethical  ideal  is 


The  Pure  Ethical  Movement 


151 


both  beginning  and  end,  source  and  object  of  ethical 
conduct.  In  the  language  of  Professor  Adler,  it  is  both 
terminus  a  quo  and  terrmnus  ad  querru  of  ethical  life. 

This  ideal  which  is  so  different  from  other  ethical 
ideals  is  further  characterized  as  being  the  organic 
ideal.  In  taking  the  organism  as  its  type,  the  Pure 
Ethical  Movement  differs  from  all  other  ethical  move- 
ments. In  the  words  of  Prof.  Adler:  "Not  altruism 
with  its  so-called  good  of  others  for  an  aim,  nor  egoism 
with  its  soirdisant  good  of  self,  nor  the  Kantian  formula 
'  with  the  mathematical  notion  of  equality  underlying  it ; 
not  the  evolutionary  formula  with  its  outlook  on  a  gen- 
eral happiness  which  cannot  even  be  defined,  but  just  the 
idea  of  organism,  in  its  spiritual  sense,  is,  for  me,  the 
beginning  of  ethics — the  beginning  and  end."  ^ 

The  ethical  ideal  as  the  organic  ideal  is  one  in 
which  each  individual  is  both  means  and  end  of  every 
other  individual.  From  such  an  ideal  neither  egoism 
to  the  exclusion  of  altruism  nor  altruism  to  the  exclu- 
sion of  egoism  can  derive  absolute  justification.  Both 
at  once  reside  in  it,  and  it  reconciles  them  both. 

The  term  organic,  as  applied  to  the  ethical  ideal,  is 
used  not  as  a  biologic  term;  it  is  a  generic  use  of  the 
term  that  is  intended  here.  The  biologic  use  of  it  is  a 
derivative  from  that.  The  biologic  organism  is  but  an 
imperfect  approximation  to  the  organic  ideal.  The 
analogy  of  the  ethical  ideal  to  the  biologic  organism  is 
thus  but  partly  correct.  For  very  few  parts  of  the 
biologic  organism  are  indispensable  members  of  it.  The 
parts  that  are  not  indispensable  are,  therefore,  mere 
means  and  not  ends  of  the  system  of  parts.  The  ethical 
organism  consists  only  of  indispensable  members.  Every 
member  thus  becomes  an  end,  as  well  as  a  means,  of 
every  other  member.    The  ethical  ideal  is  thus  the  per- 

^  Intemational  Journal  of  Ethics,  Vol.  14,  p.  279. 


,,.r 


|i 


i 


152  Three  Types  of  Practical  EtTiicd  Movements 

feet  organism,  of  which  the  biologic  organism  is  a  very 

imperfect  copy. 

The  organic  ilfeal  is  a  system  whose  parts  are  mem- 
bers of  a  democracy  of  spirits,  each  of  which,  because  of 
its  intrinsic  worth  that  renders  it  indispensable  to  all 
the  rest,  is  sovereign  and  subject  at  one  and  the  same 

tima 

Such  a  system  rests  not  upon  merely  satisfying  needs 
Hi  others,  but  upon  getting  activity  out  of  them— 
that  activity  which  is  unique  and  peculiar  to  each. 
To  contribute  to  another's  needs  is  indeed  an  injunction 
of  the  ethical  ideal ;  but  the  contribution  is  not  in  the 
form  of  charity.  Where  each  is  sovereign,  charity  is  no 
longer  one  of  the  supreme  virtues,  and  does  not  count  for 
much.  The  greatest  virtue  consists  in  performing  a  sov- 
ereign's function,  in  originating  activity  and  not  in  pas- 
sively submitting  to  the  impelling  activity  of  others.  It 
is  in  this  respect  that  the  Ethical  Culture  Movement  dif- 
fers from  every  other  movement.  The  former  is  essen- 
tially active;  the  latter  is  essentially  passive;  activity 
must  first  be  imparted  to  it.  This  is  splendidly  seen  ia 
the  practice  of  daily  life.  "This  is  the  difference,"  says 
Prof.  Adler,  "between  an  ethical  society  and  the  peace 
societies,  the  social  reform  societies,  the  educational 
societies  and  the  others— that  they  chiefly  lay  stress 
upon  what  the  government  ought  to  do,  or  upon  what 
other  people  ought  to  do,  or  in  general  upon  how  the 
world  is  to  be  set  aright,  while  the  ethical  society, 
mindful  also  of  these  demands,  yet  lays  its  chief  stress 
upon  the  question,  what  am  I  to  do?  How  shall  I  set 
the  world  right  by  setting  myself  right  ?"  ^ 

From  the  implied  sovereignty  of  each,  which  the 
ethical  ideal  rests  on,  is  deriv^  this  essential  difference 
between  the  Ethical  Culture  Movement  and  other  move- 

^Twmiif  Yean  of  the  EtMaU  Movfemefit. 


The  Pure  Ethical  Movement 


153 


ments.  A  sovereign's  function  is  to  exercise  good  will 
towards  his  subjects;  and  as  each  is  in  turn  sovereign 
the  exercise  of  the  good  will  by  any  agent  is  followed 
by  an  immediate  reaction  of  good  will  from  his  fellow 
sovereigns  towards  the  agent.  Such  relationship  re- 
quires that  each  should  clearly  perceive  that  unique 
quality  which  is  hypothetically  credited  to  each  of  the 
rest  and  potentially  residing  in  it. 

Such  vision  of  the  whole,  and  such  insight  into  the 
needs  of  each  of  the  separate  members  of  the  whole,  are 
possible  only  on  the  hypothesis  that  each  part  possesses 
an  absolute  knowledge  not  only  of  the  needs  of  all  the 
rest,  but  also  of  the  unique  possibilities  of  each  of  the 
other  parts  that  constitute  the  organic  whola  Each 
part  thus  actively  supplements  every  other  part.  In 
order  to  supplement  the  rest,  it  must  view  clearly  the 
totality  of  which  it  is  a  part.  Such  insight  is  the  high- 
est possible  function  of  the  human  individual. 

Thus  it  has  been  with  the  world's  greatest  benefac- 
tors. They  were  the  spirits  who  saw  clearly  the  world's 
need,  and  identified  themselves  with  it.  They  are  the 
Lincolns,  the  Mazzinis,  the  Galileos,  the  Savonarolas, 
the  Brunos  who  feel  their  time's  cry  and  attempt  to 
fill  it.    They  may  lose  their  lives  but  what  of  that  ? 

'^Whoso  takes  upon  himself  the  world's  life  and  his  own 
lays  down 

He,  dying  so,  lives. 
Whoso  bears  the  whole  heaviness  of  the  wronged  world's 
weight 

And  puts  it  by, 
It  is  well  with  him  suffering,  though  he  face  man's  fate. 
How  should  he  die  ?" — Swinburne. 

The  feeling  that  one  does  act  from  and  through  a 
knowledge  of  the  whole  with  which  one  identifies  him- 
self, is  the  genuine  religious  feeling.    To  act  from  such 


ff 

.11 


1 1  tl 


I  HI'   n 

!  f. 


■f 


154  Three  Types  of  Practical  Ethical  Movements 

insight,  one  must  first  identify  himself  with  the  whole ; 
one  must  be  the  whole;  and  according  to  the  ethical 
ideal  each  part  must  thus  identify  itself  with  the  whole, 
must  consider  itself  the  whole. 

What  is  this  ethical  or  organic  ideal?  The  organic 
ideal  consists  of  an  infinity  nf  individuals,  each  posr 
sessed  of  such  intrinsic  worth  as  is  absolutely  indispen- 
sable to  all  the  rest.  This  worth,  partaking  of  the 
nature  of  the  ethical  ideal,  must  be,  like  it,  hypothetical. 
It  is  an  assumption,  and  may  not  at  all  be  evident  in 
any  particular  individual  that  comes  into  ethical  rela- 
tion with  us ;  but  it  must  be  assumed  to  have  a  poten- 
tial reality  nevertheless.  Since  the  worth  of  each  indi- 
vidual is  indispensable  to  all  the  rest,  it  becomes  neces- 
sary for  all  the  rest  to  elicit  this  worth  or  to  make  actual 
what  is  assumed  as  merely  potential.  Each  member,  as 
indispensable,  as  end,  must  therefore  be  comprehended 
ly  every  other  member  and  likewise  in  itself  compre- 
hend all  others.    Each  must  mirror  all  the  rest. 

When  each  member  of  society  shall  have  thus  pos- 
sessed himself  of  the  intrinsic  need  of  every  other 
member  and  shall  have  acted  the  sovereign  function  of 
A  Lificoln,  then  the  organic  ideal  will  be  much  nearer 
realization  than  it  is  to-day.  The  organic  ideal 
consists  of  a  community  of  sovereign  spirits  whom 
those  more  remote  from  that  ideal  have  hitherto  in- 
variably sent  to  martyrdom. 

We  have  thus  analyzed  the  organic  ideal  into  a 
system  of  monads  not  much  unlike  that  of  Leibnitz. 
Each  monad  reflects  all  the  rest  and  is  reflected  by  them, 
Each  has  an  image  of  the  whole.  It  is  this  image  of 
the  whole  constantly  before  the  mind  of  each  that  con- 
stitutes the  ethical  'ideal. 

It  is  easy  to  see  what  the  ethical  imperative  of  such 
a  system  consists  in.    Act  in  such  a  way  as  to  actualize 


The  Pure  Ethical  Movement 


155 


I 


what  is  potentially  inherent  in  each  of  the  other  parts 
of  the  totality.  This  is  its  formula.  Both  egoism  and 
altruism  are  here  involved  and  merged.  It  is  the  con- 
duct that  is  based  upon  such  an  image  of  the  whole 
that  constitutes  moral  conduct.  "The  idea  of  an  ulti- 
mate unity  reveals  itself  as  the  primary  principle  of 
ethics  and  explains  at  once  the  absolute  authority  im- 
plied in  the  moral  obligations  and  the  relativity  of  the 
specific  moral  commandments.  It  is  the  principle  of 
unity  applied  to  human  relations  out  of  which  all  the 
specific  moral  commands  have  grown;  and  this  prin- 
ciple variously  understood  according  to  such  lights  as 
men  had,  has  given  rise  to  diversity  in  the  moral  theory 
and  practice  of  nations  and  races  and  will  beget,  let  us 
hope,  still  greater  and  happier  diversity  as  the  course 
of  evolution  shall  proceed."  ^  Stating  the  case  in  an- 
other form  Dr.  Adler  expresses  the  same  truth  thus: 
"An  act  is  moral,  not  in  proportion  as  it  is  standardized, 
but  as  it  is  individualized,  in  the  degree  to  which  it  is 
unlike  other  moral  acts  though  based  on  the  same 
fundamental  principle,  not  in  the  degree  to  which  it 
resembles  them.''  ^ 

The  ethical  ideal  consists  of  a  system  of  parts  each 
of  which  is  different  from  every  other  and  yet  essential 
to  it,  and  supplements  the  rest.  This  ideal  in  which 
the  whole  is  not  complete  without  the  least  of  its  parts 
and  in  which  no  part  can  be  dispensed  with  is  inter- 
preted ethically  to  mean  that  no  human  being  is  insig- 
nificant. He  is  at  the  outset  credited  with  an  intrinsic 
worth,  with  a  quality  which  is  absolutely  necessary  to 
supplement  that  of  all  others.  The  least  is  as  necessary 
to  the  greatest  as  the  greatest  is  to  the  least. 

This  becomes  possible  only  when  differences  between 

'  Felix  Adler,  in  Unitarian  RevieWj  1885. 

« International  Journal  of  Ethics,  Vol*  20,  p.  391. 


3 


i  .' 


: 


156  r^ree  Types  0/  Practtcd  Ethkdl  Movements 

individuals  are  emphasized,  and  likenesses  overlooked. 
Only  when  differences  are  cherished,  will  differences  in 
religion,  in  color,  in  nationality,  in  vocation  produce 
no  persecution,  hatred  or  discrimination.  ^  "The  or- 
ganic idea  lays  the  same  stress  on  multiplicity  as  on 
unity,  on  diversity  as  on  likeness."  ^  The  importance 
of  this  stress  comes  out  more  clearly,  when  we  remem- 
ber that  the  reform  movements  whose  basis  is  brother- 
hood and  likeness  are  limited  in  the  scope  of  their  fel- 
lowship. There  comes  a  point  beyond  which  they  see 
differences ;  and  immediately  fellowship  stops  short  and 
antipathy  begins.  The  Ethical  Culture  Movement  has 
no  such  shortcoming.  It  is  one  of  the  essential  charac- 
teristics of  the  Ethical  Culture  Movement  that  it  bases 
morality  upon  differences  rather  than  on  similarities. 
"Morality,"  'says  Adler,  "is  in  essence  a  law  for  regu- 
lating the  attractions  and  overcoming  the  repulsions 
between  one  human  being  and  others."  ^  These  at- 
tractions and  repulsions  have  been  too  commonly 
made  dependent  on  the  similarities  that  exist  between 
men;  and  so  moral  conduct  and  straight  dealings,  in 
business,  in  social  affairs,  in  political  affairs  extended 
no  wider  than  did  the  degree  of  similarity  between 
them* 

Wm  diaractenstics  which  designate  men  as  similar 
are  purely  arbitrary.  At  one  period  in  history,  only 
those  who  belonged  to  a  certain  class  and  tribe  were 
similar,  and  all  those  outside  of  it  were  considered 
enemies.  The  line  of  demarcation  has  indeed  moved  on, 
but  it  is  nevertheless  even  to-day  arbitrarily  located. 
Whom  we  are  to  consider  similar  and  whom  dissimilar 
to  us,  is  at  the  present  time  just  as  arbitrary  as  in  primi- 
tif  a  days,  even  though  the  line  separates  bigger  masses 

^fnferimMwmt  loumal  of  Ethics,  Vol.  20,  p.  391. 
'Felix  Adler— TAe  Religion  of  Duty,  p.  92. 


The  Pure  Ethical  Movement 


157 


r 
ii 


to-day  than  it  did  then.  This  only  means  that  the 
wars  and  the  animosities  are  carried  on  between  bigger 
masses  than  was  the  case  yesterday.  The  shifting  of 
the  line  of  demarcation  has  not  done  away  with  wars, 
nor  is  it  likely  to  do  so.  Peace  movements,  and  arbi- 
tration movements  are  likely,  after  all,  to  be  mere  make- 
shifts, so  long  as  there  remains  an  arbitrary  dividing 
line  between  people.  On  the  basis  of  similarity  be- 
tween  individuals  there  is  certainly  bound  to  be  an 
arbitrary  division.  And  as  moral  relations  are  assumed 
to  be  binding  only  within  the  line  of  demarcation  and 
not  beyond  it,  can  we  wonder  at  the  wantonness  and 
brutality  which  characterizes  the  clashes  between  two 
parties  separated  by  that  artificial  line  of  demarcation  ? 

The  Ethical  Culture  Movement  starts  with  the  notion 
that  there  is  a  natural  line  of  demarcation  not  alone  be- 
tween groups  but  between  individuals.  It  draws  that 
line  distinctly.  It  isolates  each  from  the  rest  by  a  bar 
and  says:  Cooperate  despite  these  bars.  The  bars  of 
separation  are  numerous ;  there  are  more  than  are  ordi- 
narily foreseen.  Indeed  there  are  infinite  differences 
just  because  there  are  infinite  spiritual  beings.  Now  en- 
joins the  Ethical  Movement:  Work  together  because 
and  for  the  sake  of  these  very  differences. 

This  is  a  new  notion,  one  that  has  not  up  to  this 
time  been  tried  out.  The  Ethical  Movement,  whose 
ideal  is  the  perfect  cooperation  of  an  all-embracing 
system  of  monads  each  differing  from  the  other, 
is  for  the  first  time  in  the  history  of  the 
world  working  out  the  theory  to  its  fullest  conclusion. 
It  aims  at  new  types  of  men,  types  fused  in  the  melting 
pot  of  human  relations  into  which  only  differences 
enter  as  ingredients  and  out  of  which  there  is  expected 
to  emerge  a  higher  type  of  manhood,  a  type  resembling 
what  Nietzsche  calls  super-man. 


i 


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158  Three  Types  of  PracUcd  Ethical  Movements 

It  is  not,  however,  from  Nietzsche  that  the  Ethical 
Movement  derives  the  elements  of  its  ideal.  But  be- 
fore we  proceed  to  trace  the  sources  of  the  ethical 
ideal  let  us  sum  up  its  component  parts.  There  is  first 
the  concept  of  a  perfect  or  a  spiritual  organism ;  sec- 
ond, the  members  or  parts  of  this  organism  are 
possessed  of  essential  sovereignty  and  complement  each 
other ;  third,  this  sovereignty  resides  in  each  member  by 
virtue  of  its  being  credited  with  an  intrinsic  inalienable 
worth,  a  worth  peculiar  to  that  member  alone  and  differ- 
ing from  the  quality  peculiar  to  every  other  member; 
each  member  being  thus  marked  by  its  own  characteris- 
tic difference  from  every  other  member;  fourth,  the 
characteristic  of  each  is  but  potentially  inherent  in  it, 
and  requires  the  eliciting  activity  of  all  the  other  mem- 
bers to  convert  this  potentiality  into  an  actuality ;  fifth, 
the  eliciting  and  the  evoking  of  this  latent  quality  into 
actuality  is  the  aim  of  each  member  and  the  realization 
of  this  aim  is  the  end  of  the  ethical  ideal,  which,  when 
attained,  consists  of  a  spiritual  kingdom  of  the  greatest 
possible  variety  of  members,  thereby  making  the  whole 
richer  and  more  sublime ;  lastly  this  ideal  operates  with 
rigor  in  all  particular  cases. 

The  mosaic  of  which  the  ethical  ideal  is  constructed, 
traces  its  several  parts  to  various  schools  of  philosophic 
thought  The  roots  of  the  ethical  ideal  tap  two  great 
philosophies,  from  which  the  ethical  ideal  derives  no 
little  nourishment — the  Leibnitzian  and  the  Kantian 
philosophies.  One  of  the  philosophical  sources  from 
which  the  ethical  ideal  draws  its  content,  is  the  Leib- 
nitzian doctrine  of  monads.  To  this  source  the  ethical 
ideal  owes  one  of  its  main  concepts.  Its  group  of 
beings,  each  sovereign  in  itself  and  yet  needing  the 
rest  of  the  world  both  as  fellow-sovereigns  and  fellow- 


The  Pure  Ethical  Movement 


159 


subjects,  is  an  analogue  of  the  monad  which,  though 
complete  in  itself,  yet  reflects  the  world  about  it. 

There  is  much  that  is  similar  in  the  ethical  ideal  of 
the  Pure  Ethical  Movement,  and  the  monadology  of 
Leibnitz:  1.  The  members  of  the  ethical  ideal  are 
unique,  and  therefore  indispensable  beings;  and  so  also 
are  the  monads.  2.  The  members  of  the  ethical  ideal 
and  the  monads  are  each  parts  oijdi  system,  L  e.^  of  a 
Universe.  3.  Both  the  members  oi  the  ethical  ideal  and 
the  monads  visualize  the  unique  individuality  of  the 
other  members  of  the  Universe,  in  varying  degrees  of 
clearness. 

And  yet  the  differences  between  the  ethical  ideal  and 
the  monadology  are  just  as  clearly  marked:  1.  The 
members  of  the  ethical  ideal,  though  they  are  each  of 
them  indispensable,  are  nevertheless  not  self-sufficient; 
whereas  the  monads  of  Leibnitz  are  in  themselves 
microcosms,  and  as  such  are  self-sufficient.  2.  The 
members  of  the  ethical  ideal  are  members  whose  ac- 
tivity is  inter-related  with  that  of  every  other  member, 
in  an  effort  to  actualize  the  unique  quality  which  each 
visualizes  in  every  other.  The  monads,  however,  pos- 
sess no  such  functional  activity;  for  they  need  it  not, 
since  it  is  not  incumbent  upon  any  one  of  them  to  act 
upon  any  other  in  this  functional  way.  The  activity 
which  each  monad  possesses  is  a  visualizing  activity, 
which   simply  mirrors  in   itself   every   other  monad. 

3.  The  functional  activity  of  the  members  of  the  ethical 
ideal  makes  the  ethical  ideal  primarily  regulative; 
whereas  the  sensory  mirroring  of  the  monads  makes 
of  the  monadology  primarily  a   constitutive   system. 

4.  The  latter  cannot  therefore  be  the  ground  of  an 
ethics;  the  former  cannot  be  anything  but  such  a 
ground. 


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160  Three  Types  of  Practical  Ethical  Movements 

And  90,  thougli  it  has  its  roots  in  past  systems,  the 
ethical  ideal  is  not  tied  down  to  them.  It  has  branched 
off  from  them,  and  has  made  a  real  contribution  to 
ethical  and  philosophical  truth. 

Whatever  differences  there  are  between  the  ethical 
member  of  the  spiritual  organism  and  the  Leibnitzian 
monad,  come  from  the  different  functions  which  they 

are  intended  to  serva 

The  Leibnitzian  monad  serves  as  a  noetic  concept, 
evoked  by  Leibnitz  to  satisfy  an  intellectual  and  not  a 
practical  problem.    It  partakes,  therefore,  of  the  placid 
quietude  which  has  characterized  all  the  noetic  concep- 
tions of  the  past,  from  Plato's  Ideas  functioning  as  mute 
patterns,  to  Aristotle's  Nous  doing  nothing  but  thinking 
its  dear  self.  •  To  the  noetic  ideal,  activity  is  something 
foreign,  foisted  upon  it,  merely  tolerated  and  to  be 
apologized  for.  Who,  that  reads  Aristotle,  does  not  feel 
that  activity  is  tabooed  to  his  God,  and  that  the  world  s 
activity  which  derives  its  impetus  from  him,  must  be 
apologetically  explained  ?  What  else  than  as  an  apology 
does  the  beautiful  figure  of  the  beloved  moving  the  lover 
nerve  to  Aristotle  ?    It  was  the  only  way  Aristotle  could 
creep  out  of  the  dilemma  which  was  involved  in  his  task 
of  harmonizing  the  Eleatic  Being  with  the  HeracliteaB 
Becoming.     Leibnitz's  preestablished  harmony  is  but 
another  instance  of  the  straits  to  which  the  intellectual 
ideal   is  put,   when  it  faces  the  practical  problems. 
Complete  and  perfect  though  the  monad  is,  you  can't 
get  motion  out  of  it.    It  is  omniscient ;  it  mirrors  the 
universe ;  but  it  can  do  nothing.     The  harmony  of  iti 
acts  with  the  acts  of  other  monads  was  therefore  some- 
thing almost  miraculous  and  was  best  explained  on  the 
theory  of  a  preestablished  arrangement.     The  noetic 
Meal  does  nothing,  for  indeed  there  is  nothing  for  it 
tn  do. 


The  Pure  Ethical  Movement 


161 


The  ethical  ideal,  on  the  contrary,  is  a  practical 
ideal.  Activity  is  a  basic  and  not  an  apologetic  ingre- 
dient in  its  make-up.  Nay,  here  it  is  inactivity  that 
must  be  apologized  for,  and  is  invariably  dearly  paid 
for.  Self -activity,  the  sovereign  function,  is  the  very 
essence  of  the  organic  ideal.  It  is  not  merely  super- 
added to  the  static  Being  of  the  intellectual  ideal. 
Each  member  of  the  organic  ideal  is  thus  credited  with 
the  two-fold  function  of  visualizing  the  universe  of  kin- 
dred spirits,  and  of  evoking  the  latent  potencies  they 
each  enclose.  The  former  function  alone  is  possible 
to  the  Leibnitzian  monad. 

To  the  ethical  ideal  both  fimctions  are  essential. 
The  vision  of  each  individual  spirit  must  be  seen  from 
the  view  point  of  the  Absolute,  or  as  Professor  Adler 
would  prefer  to  call  it,  from  the  view  point  of  the 
Universe  which,  according  to  him,  is  not  a  scientific 
but  an  ethical  conception.  This  visualizing  is  one  of 
the  essential  functions  of  the  ethical  monad.  Its  other 
function  follows  from  the  vision  which  it  thus  sees. 
This  consists  in  eliciting  that  one  quality  which,  as  a 
result  of  its  vision,  each  monad  sees  as  a  priceless 
possession  in  every  other  monad,  a  priceless  thing 
laboring  to  come  to  birth  and  needing  every  other 
monad  as  a  Socratic  maieutic.  The  ethical  ideal  is  a 
practical  ideal  in  that  it  assumes  this  second  function, 
which  the  noetic  ideal  of  Leibnitz  entirely  neglects. 

Herein  lies  the  difference  between  the  Leibnitzian 
and  the  ethical  ideals.  The  former  is  a  purely  con- 
stitutive principle;  the  latter  is  also  a  regulative 
principle. 

Though  at  first  glance  the  difference  seems  great 
between  the  Leibnitzian  monad  that  has  no  relation- 
ship to  other  monads  and  the  ethical  monad  which  is 
a  spiritual  self  that  needs  all  other  spirits  to  supple- 


162  Three  Types  of  Practical  Ethical  Movemerds 

ment  it,  yet  this  great  difference  quite  disappears  when 
W9  reflect  upon  them  from  their  constitutive  principle 
alone.  The  constitutive  make-up  of  the  ethical  ideal 
is  identical  with  the  Leibnitzian  doctrine. 

It  is  only  in  their  regulative  principle  that  they 
differ;  as  constitutive  ideals  they  are  identical.    Here 
the  common  element  in  both  the  Leibnitzian  and  eth- 
ical ideals  comes  to  the  front ;  nor  must  this  be  over- 
looked.   The  vision  that  sees  in  each  component  mem- 
ber of  the  society  of  spirits  that  constitute  the  Ideal 
Universe,  those  intrinsic  needs  that  must  be  supplied 
to  bring  into  realization  what  is  unique  therein— this 
vision  is  no  other  than  that  possessed  by  the  monad. 
The  agreement  of  the  two  systems  from  the  consti- 
tutive aspect,  extends  to  further  details.     What  in  the 
ethical  ideal  appears  as  the  unique  intrinsic  essence 
of  each  monad  by  which  it  is  differentiated  from  and 
rendered  indispensable  to  every  other  individual,  ap- 
pears in  the  Leibnitzian  scheme  as  differences  in  the 
degrees  of  vision  accredited  to  the  different  monads, 
whereby  each  images  the  rest  of  the  universe  more  or 
less  distinctly  according  to  its  power  of  vision.    True, 
the  view  is  always  a  total  view;  but  the  picture  ob- 
served is  blurred  or  clear  according  to  the  capacity  of 
the  monad  that  mirrors  the  universe.     It  is  the  differ- 
ences in  their  points  of  view  and  the  clarity  of  their 
vision  that  distinguish  between  different  monads.    And 
so,  that  peculiarity  which  is  hypothetically  accredited 
to  each  member  of  the  organic  ideal  by  virtue  of  which 
it  is  different  from  every  other  member  and  yet  abso- 
lutely  essential   to    all   of  them,   this   uniqueness   is 
identifiable  with  the  different  degrees  of  clearness  of 
vision  which  marked  the  characteristics  of  different 

monads. 

Y©t  each  must  see  that  which  is  latent  in  all.    The 


The  Pure  Ethical  Movement 


163 


totality  must  thus  be  divined  in  a  single  vision  and 
thereby  be  intellectually  swallowed  up  by  the  single 
spirit.  This  is  exactly  the  essence  of  the  monad  and 
of  the  ethical  ideal.  The  individual  members  of  each 
ideal  embody  in  themselves  the  totality,  and  act  from 
the  view-point  of  this  totality.  In  their  essentials, 
therefore,  the  Leibnitzian  and  the  Ethical  constitutive 
conceptions  are  one,  and  we  may  infer  that  the  latter 
is  derived  from  the  former.  At  any  rate  the  similarity 
of  the  two  is  evident. 

Another  source  from  which  the  ethical  ideal  draws 
freely  is  the  Kantian  ethical  doctrine.  The  regulative 
or  normative  side  of  the  ethical  doctrine  comes  from 
Kant.  From  this  doctrine,  the  ethical  ideal  derives  the 
absolute  rigor  of  the  ethical  imperative  and  the  good- 
will as  the  content  of  the  moral  act.  Kant  has  two 
tests  of  a  moral  act;  one  is  the  possibility  of  making 
the  act  universal  without  self-contradiction;  the  other 
is  the  manifestation  of  the  good-will.  The  Ethical 
Movement  likewise  has  two  tests;  one  is  the  degree 
to  which  the  act  tends  to  realize  the  spiritual  organism ; 
the  other  is  the  manifestation  of  the  good-will.  The 
former  is  an  objective,  the  latter  a  subjective  test; 
the  former  is  determinable  by  the  intellectual  faculty; 
the  latter  is  so  closely  identified  with  the  subjective 
conscience  that  an  observer  lean  never  be  positive  that 
the  good-will  is  present  in  and  prompts  the  act  which 
he  observes.  Society,  therefore,  in  most  cases  applies 
the  objective  test  to  our  acts,  and  leaves  it  to  our  inti- 
mate friends,  who  alone  best  know  our  subjective 
promptings  and  our  habits,  to  apply  the  subjective  test. 

The  Kantian  and  the  Ethical  Movement  are  thus  at 
one  in  their  view  of  the  tests  of  what  constitutes  a 
moral  act.  Nevertheless  the  two  systems,  though 
united  in  regard  to  the  absolute  rigor  and  the  content 


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164  Three  Types  of  Practical  Ethical  Movements 

of  the  moral  law  and  in  r^ard  tojihe  teste^^a^^^^^ 
act,  yet  differ  in  the  bases  from  which  ^W  ^Jive  ^^^^^^ 
ethical  formula.  The  Kantian  ^^^P^^^^we  h^^^  its 
foundation  in  the  universality  and  the  necessity  of  the 
moral  ought  regardless  of  any  end  of  action;  the  ethi^^ 
^Lati^  ha/its  foundation  in  the  ethical  ideal,  both 
as  the  source  and  end  of  action. 

Now  it  is  easy  to  see  how  the  mere  form  of  an  act, 
simply  through  its  universality  and  necessity  gives  nse 
Tan'^mp^^^^    that  is  absolute.    It  is  not  so  e^y  ^ 
Ze  how  Z  ideal  that  is  not  a  pure  ^ o™  <>f .  ^^t^^,^^ 
contains  also  a  content  can  issue  a  like  ^P^^ftive- 
C  answer  lies  probably  in  the  fact  that  the  etW 
ideal  is  an  absolute  end-an  end  which  Kant  sought, 
but  did  not  find.    Now  an  absolute  and  umversal  end 
of  action  can  give  rise  to  an  absolute  f^F^^tw? J^J 
as  well  as  the  universality  of  the  mere  f  onn  of  the  act 
gives  rise  to  the  necessity  of  the  act  and  1^^?^^  to  a 
categorical  imperative.    The  Kantian  imperative,  based 
upon  the  mere  form  of  the  act,  issues  the  command . 
Aet  so  that  thy  act  may  be  made  the  norm  of  a  univer- 
sal act    It  has  no  reference  to  an  end.     The  ethica^ 
imperative,  with  the  added  weight  which  comes  from 
the  content  or  end  of  action  issues  the  command:  Act 
in  such  a  way  as  to  elicit  the  universal  end;  t.  e.,  tHy 
end  as  well  as  the  ends  of  others  at  the  same  time. 
"So  act,"  Prof.  Adler  says,  "as  to  elicit  what  is  auto^ 
telic  (that  is,  mentally  and  morally  unique)  m  the  self 
of  others,  and  thereby  develop  what  is  autotelic  m  thy- 
self is  the  formula  which  I  should  choose.  .     ^,    ^ 
The  ethical  ideal  differs  from  the  Kantian  m  that 
the  former  has  an  end  of  action  that  giv^  rise  to  m 
imperative;  tbe  latter  has  no  such  end,  and  derives  its 
ethical  formula  from  the  pure  form  of  the  act.    io  tne 

%intemational  Journal  of  EtMca,  VoL  U$.  P-  279. 


The  Pure  Ethical  Movement 


165 


question :  "What  sort  of  act  fills  the  requirements  of  the 
ethical  formulas  of  Kant  and  of  the  Ethical  Move- 
ment ?"  we  get  the  same  answer  from  both :  "It  is  the  act 
which  is  characterized  by  the  good-will."  There  is 
nothing  good,  but  the  good-will,  say  both  systems  alike. 
The  connection  holds  not  so  much  in  regard  to  their 
views  of  the  metaphysical  nature  of  the  ethical  ideal  as 
in  regard  to  the  form  which  they  consider  the  ethical 
ideal  to  operate  under.  The  Kantian  ideal  operates 
under  the  imperative  of  a  purely  formal  law  which  is 
self-imposed  and  is  absolute  because  it  is  universal  in 
scope.  The  ethical  ideal  operates  likewise  under  the 
stimulus  of  an  imperative  which  an  ideal,  that  is  at  the 
same  time  an  absolute  end,  imposes  upon  us. 

It  is  strange  that  the  two  movements,  differing  as 
they  do  in  regard  to  the  doctrine  of  ends  of  action, 
should  yet  harmonize  in  regard  to  the  form  and  the 
content  of  the  moral  act,  and  should  apply  the  same  test 
to  determine  the  morality  of  an  act.  This  can  be  ac- 
counted for  either  on  the  ground  that  the  doctrine  of 
ends  of  action  is,  as  Kant  would  have  it,  not  a  factor  in 
the  moral  act,  or  on  the  groimd  that  the  spiritual  organ- 
ism as  an  end,  is  only  a  more  picturesque  expression  of 
the  universality  of  a  moral  act.  Where  the  ends  and 
means  coincide,  as  is  the  case  in  a  system  where  each  is 
at  the  same  time  end  and  means,  the  mere  form  of  the 
act  becomes  the  significant  factor,  and  we  are  reduced 
to  the  Kantian  moral  formula  which  is  based  on  the 
mere  form  of  the  act.  Thus  the  likeness  between  the 
two  systems  becomes  yet  still  closer. 

To  Kant  and  to  Leibnitz  we  thus  trace  the  main 
philosophic  sources  of  the  Ethical  Movement.  The 
Pure  Ethical  Movement  can  thus  be  described  as  the 
Kantian  rigoristic  unconditional  categorical  imperative 
resting  on  the  Leibnitzian  theory  of  monads.     The 


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166  Three  Types  of  Practical  Ethical  Movements 

Kantian  influence  is  seen  in  the  rigor  of  ita  injunctions, 
m  Hm  content  and  test  of  a  moral  act.  The  Leib- 
nitzian  influence  is  visible  in  the  doctrine  of  the  sovei^ 
eknty  of  the  members,  each  of  which  is  both  end  and 
means  of  every  other  member.  To  be  a  member  of  tiie 
ethical  ideal  each  member  must  know  the  whole  m  its 
severalty  and  mirror  the  whole  in  its  entirety.  From 
Leibnitz,  then,  the  ethical  ideal  derives  its  constitutive 
principle ;  from  K*nt  it  derives  its  regulative  or  norma- 
tive principle. 

(V)   Whai  Hope  far  Practical  Moral  Reform  Can  We 
Draw  from  the  Ethical  Ideal  f 

Gill  Hi*  Ethical  Movement,  grounded  as  it  id  mt  the 
organic  ideal,  serve  as  a  practical  reform  movement! 
This  is,  of  course,  the  most  vital  of  all  questions  and 
its  most  scientific  answer  depends  upon  a  study  of  the 
moral  status  of  a  community  after,  as  compared  with 
before,  an  Ethical  Society  has  been  established  in  it. 
Only  such  a  comparison  can  reveal  the  eflSciency  of  the 
movement  It  is,  however,  impossible  to  take  such 
cross  sections  of  society  except  at  very  long  intervals  of 
time;  and  then  the  cross  sections  so  taken,  are  blurred 
and  confusing  and  can  therefore  give  little  light  upon 
our  question. 

We  are  thm  left  fo  He  oiier  alternative,  that  of 
examining  the  scope  of  its  ideal  and  of  determining  its 
efficiency  in  an  a  priori  manner.  Such  an  examination 
of  the  principle  imderlying  the  Ethical  Movement,  re- 
veals at  least  no  self-contradictory  doctrine  as  is  the 
case  with  the  other  practical  movements.  We  find  no 
demand  for  brotherhood  based  upon  a  principle  of  like- 
ness— a  principle,  the  consequence  of  which  is  to  recog- 
nize no  brotherhood  iillil©  ilkpiess  is  ii0t  established. 


The  Pure  Ethical  Movement 


167 


ii  < 


We  find  no  mere  fostering  paternalism  based  upon  an 
ideal  that  is  devoted  to  the  present  enjoyment  of  the 
comforts  and  artistic  luxuries  of  life — an  aristocratic 
ideal  that  divided  mankind  into  those  that  give  and 
those  that  receive  the  present  goods  of  life. 

The  ethical  ideal  calls  for  brotherhood  and  coopera- 
tion just  as  the  religious  ideal  and  the  social  ideal  do, 
but  it  bases  this  call  on  the  principle  of  the  unique 
differences  that  separate  mankind. 

Moral  reform  is,  after  all,  realizable  only  through 
educational  methods ;  and  relies  solely  on  the  soundness 
of  the  method  employed.  It  depends  for  success  upon 
the  clearness  with  which  we  can  uphold  the  light.  And 
then  the  light  will  of  itself  effect  the  desired^  change  in 
conduct,  so  that  conduct  will  adjust  itself  to  it.  To  see 
the  light  clearly,  is  therefore  of  prime  importance. 

To  have  a  theory  of  truth  thus  becomes  essential  even 
for  an  Ethical  Movement.  In  spite  of  its  protestations 
against  philosophical  systems  as  sources  of  ethical 
knowledge,  the  Ethical  Movement  does,  after  all,  take 
on  a  philosophical  character.  For  it,  like  the  philosoph- 
ical systems  which  it  condemns,  aims  at  a  total  view- 
point; and  is,  in  so  far,  philosophical.  It  can  find  light 
for  ethical  guidance,  only  by  soaring  up  and  bringing  it 
from  its  ideal. 

If  the  Ethical  Movement  errs  at  all  in  denying  that 
it  rests  on  a  theory  of  truth,  its  error  arises  from  the 
locus  of  the  ethical  ideal  which  is  in  the  non-existent 
future.  The  ideals  of  the  other  movements  are,  as  we 
have  seen,  in  the  past  or  in  the  present.  The  fact  that 
the  locus  of  the  ethical  ideal  is  thus  different  from  that 
of  any  other  ideals,  is  mistaken  for  an  absence  of  a 
theory  of  truth.  Because  past  theories  have  failed  to 
solve  the  ethical  problems,  the  Ethical  Movement  denies 
altogether  the  need  of  theories  for  the  purpose  of  moral 


■li 

1 


I! 

I 


I 


ill 


168   Three  Types  of  Practical  Ethical  Movements 

reform,  it  insists  upon  proper  action  regardless  of 
theories,  simply  because  past  theories  have  failed  to 
produce  proper  actions.  It  fails  to  see  that  they  failed 
not  because  of  the  existence,  but  because  of  the  location 
of  their  ideal.  Because  the  future  is  absent  in  the  sense 
that  it  has  never  yet  been,  the  Ethical  Movement,  whose 
ideal  is  in  the  future,  is  apt  to  lead  to  the  error  ot 
confounding  the  absence  with  the  total  non-existence  of 
the  principle  on  which  ethical  conduct  is  based. 

This  is  not,  however,  a  vital  error.  It  has  no  conse- 
quences that  weaken  its  ethical  doctrine.  It  is  purely  a 
logical  error,  which  the  Ethical  Movement  corrects  m 
practice  and  so  neutralizes.  In  practice  the  Ethical 
Movement  has  a  theory  of  an  ideal  just  as  much  as  have 
any  of  the  philosophical  systems  before  it.  The  loca* 
tim  of  it  in  the  future,  it  mistakes  for  its  absence  m 

The  Ethical  Movement  gives  more  promise  of  suc- 
cessfully achieving  moral  reform,  because  it  appeals  to 
and  works  upon  individuals  and  not  upon  masses  or 
groups  of  individuals.  The  Eeligious  Ethical  Move- 
ment makes  its  appeal  to  the  individual  for  a  certain 
line  of  conduct  simply  on  the  ground  that  he  belongs  to 
a  certain  group.  It  calls  upon  him  as  a  Christian  to 
act  so  and  so ;  and  as  a  Jew  to  act  so  and  so.  Naturally, 
this  line  of  conduct  is  limited  by  the  adjective  describ- 
ing it,  and  is  applicable  only  within  these  limits.  This 
is  genuine  group  morality,  and  has  been  the  sanction 
of  unethical  conduct  to  all  outside  of  that  group. 

There  is  present  a  strong  tendency  to  emphasize 
group  morality  over  individual  morality,  and  to  dis- 
count the  latter  in  favor  of  the  former.  Jane  Addama 
is  the  chief  exponent  of  this  tendency.  The  new  doc- 
trine of  group  morality  advocated  by  Miss  Addams 
differs  from  the  old  doctrine  of  group  morality  in  this: 


The  Pure  Ethicat  Movement 


169 


The  latter  did  not  even  recognize  any  such  thing  as 
individual  morality— all  conduct  that  was  moral  has 
its  origin  in  the  group  and  its  application  was  coex- 
tensive with  the  group.     It  did  not  extend  beyond  it. 
There  was  no  such  thing  as  immoral  conduct  towards 
one  who  was  outside  of  your  group.    The  new  doctrine 
of  group  morality  does  make  the  distinction  between 
individual  and  group  morality  and  does  not,  of  course, 
go  to  the  extent  of  giving  a  free  bill  of  ethical  cleanli- 
ness to  all  acts  affecting  those  outside  of  one's  own 
group.   The  new  view  makes  personal  morality  a  mere 
zero  point  in  the  scale  of  ethical  conduct.    Yourself  to 
live  a  moral  life  is  not  sufficient.  You  must  go  beyond, 
and  spur  on  others  to  act  ethically.     This  is  positive 
morality  as  compared  with  the  zero  morality  of  the 
individual  right-doing.     Personal  right-doing  becomes 
immoral  or,  at  any  rate,  unethical  from  the  viewpoint  of 
the  group  morality.    Group  morality  is  thus  contrasted 
with  individual  morality.    Jane  Addams  cites  the  con- 
duct of  the  President  of  the  Pulhnan  Palac^  Car  Com- 
pany as  an  example  of  a  high  class  of  individual  moral- 
ity that  fell  so  far  short  of  being  of  the  standard  of 
group  morality  that  his  conduct  is  called  immoral.    The 
President  of  this  Company  devised  various  ways  of 
benefiting  his  employees.     He  built  a  town  for  them 
amidst  beautiful  surroundings,  and  fitted  it  up  with 
splendid,  comfortable  dwellings ;  he  built  houses,  libra- 
ries, social  rooms.    He  paid  them  fair  wages  and  did  all 
that  in  his  power  lay,  to  make  them  contented.    Yet  to 
his  surprise  they  went  on  strike  and  stirred  up  much 
violence  in  return  for  all  the  philanthropy  that  was 
shown  them.    And  they  were  right,  contends  Miss  Ad- 
dams, because  all  the  philanthropy  of  the  benevolent 
President  was  an  exercise  of  mere  individual  morality, 
whereas  the  times  demanded  social  or  group  morality. 


ii 


^••f 


1  ! 


lit 


170  Three  Types  of  Practical  Ethical  Movemenls 

What  he  sloBlt  have  done,  was  to  have  educated  th^ 
up  to  the  point  where  their  welfare  and  salvation  would 
have  been  a  matter  of  their  own  and  not  of  his  creation. 
He  failed  to  do  this,  and  in  failing  to  vest  them  with 
self-government  and  in  maintaining  instead  a  benevo- 
lent paternalism,  his  conduct  was  immoral. 

In  the  light  of  the  ethical  ideal,  the  distinction  here 
made  between  individual  and  group  morality  disap- 
pears. Morality,  as  a  social  concept,  gives  ethical  value 
only  to  those  acts  that  elicit  what  is  potential  in  others. 
Only  such  acts  are  ethical;  for  morality  consists  im 
eliciting  the  good-will  of  others.  From  this  point  ill 
^ew  there  can  be  no  distinction  between  individual 
and  group  morality.  The  Social  Ethical  Movement, 
©f  which  Jan§  Addams  is  the  chief  standard-bearer, 
IcHiay  evidently  has  two  standards  of  moral  conduct, 
one  for  the  individual  as  individual,  the  other  for  the 
individual  as  a  member  of  a  social  group.  It  is  difficult 
to  see  what  the  ethical  obligations  of  the  individual  as 
individual  apart  from  the  social  group  may  be.      ^ 

That  morality  implies  a  social  obligation  at  all  times 
and  is  not  merely  a  goody-goody  aloofness  from  society 
is  becoming  more  evident  daily,  in  the  political,  eco- 
aomic,  and  social  spheres  of  life.   In  political  life,  this 
ii   evidenced    by   the    establishment    of    Bureaus    of 
Municipal  Kesearch,  which  attempt  to  force  home  the 
fact  that  public  office  is  a  public  trust.     In  the  eco- 
nomic sphere,  we  hear  of  the  recognition  by  employers 
of  the  rights  of  employees  to  some  form  of  recreation 
during  the  day,  and  the  consequent  introduction  into 
some  factories  of  a  reading  room,  of  a  social  room  and 
of  a  lunch  room.    This  is  simply  the  recognition  of  tiie 
principle  that  human  beings  are  not  merely  means  but 
also  ends  in  themselves. 

With  a  view  to  ascertaining  how  far  employees  are 


The  Pure  Ethical  Movement 


171 


means  and  to  what  extent  they  must  be  treated  as  eth- 
ical ends,  the  Ethical  Culture  Society  has  recently 
given  birth  to  a  Business  Men's  Group  ^  whose  object  is 
to  study  the  proper  relations  between  employers  and 
employees.  The  need  for  a  better  understanding  of 
this  relation  is  becoming  more  and  more  general;  and 
it  is  seen  that  to  fail  to  heed  it,  is  to  run  the  risk  of 
being  condemned  by  the  moral  conscience.  There  is 
no  line  of  demarcation  between  individual  and  group 
morality;  for  morality  means  the  reciprocal  rela- 
tion between  the  individual  and  the  group.  The 
duties  of  a  man  as  a  personality  do  not  stop  when 
his  duties  as  an  employer  begin.  They  are  identical 
in  both  relationships.  They  require,  however,  to  be 
worked  out  and  applied  under  different  circum- 
stances; but  this  does  not  at  all  make  group  morality 
different  from  individual  morality.  The  ethical  ideal 
recognizes  no  such  distinction. 

Another  need  that  ethical  science  feels  to-day  and 
which  the  Ethical  Movement  supplies  is  a  clear,  definite 
knowledge  of  what  constitutes  the  Eight  in  the  par- 
ticular problems  that  confront  us  almost  daily.  Great 
laxity  in  morals  came  about  largely  because  the 
old  notions  of  morality  had  been  exploded  and,  under 
the  influence  of  experimental  science,  an  individualistic 
standard  had  been  set  up.  The  inductive  sciences 
recently  enthroned,  were  driving  from  the  field  all 
deductive  methods.  This  went  on  more  rapidly  in  the 
last  quarter  of  the  nineteenth  century  than  ever  before. 
Faculty  psychology  was  overthrown,  and  experimental 
laboratory  psychology  was  the  fashion.  In  education, 
the  old  memory  methods  were  broken  up  and  royal- 
road  methods  were  invented.     All  along  the  line,  the 

»  See :  "An  Ethical  Program  for  Business  Men"  in  The  Standard, 
1021 ;  also  pp.  260-304  of  Dr.  Adler's  book,  An  Ethical  PhUoaophy  of 
Life, 


ITS  Three  Types  of  Practical  Ethical  Movemerds 

saxne  phenomena  are  visible.    In  e*j-,f  ^^^^J^ 
mpnt  ffave  rise  to  the  comparative  study  ot  races  ana 
So'h  their  moral  notions.    Anthropoo^  produced 
Tweakening  in  the  rigidity  of  the  °»«?^.^1^^;^,  f  ^j! 
Irltl  Uw  varied  with  the  races  of  antiquity,  why  may 
Tno  X  S  individuals  of  tc^ay  ?    Science  shows 
rtScI  of  various  -oral  «^^fj  without  au^_ 
compunctions  of  conscience.     Indeed,  /o  f  ?°J' .  J^^j 
science  is  merely  the  overpowering  of  t^e  mdmdua 
by  the  racial  experience.     Where  t^^^/^^^^i,^^';^ 
ences  were  different  from  our  own,  the  morals  were 
SSelt  7nd  conscience  was  unhurt  by  acts  which  now 
cause  it  to  hide  itseH  with  shame     All  thi^  ^e  md^ 
tive  scientific  investigations  proved.    -^^  so  *he  notion 
Spreads  that  there  is  no  other  i^ivestigatiwi  than  the 
inductive,  that  is  worth  anything.  ,  ^"^^^^  ^*  J\^^ 
guided  on  with  help  of  one  particular  to  a^o^Pf^ 
Sular  experience.     There  is  no  universal  exp^e°«« 
at  all.    eduction  starts  with  the  universal  experience 
and  this  is  impossible.    Therefore  deduction  is  impo«- 
S*.     It  is  unscientific    This  is  the  crucial  position 
^.teloVoi^S  situation    .^o -HabilU^te  a  g^r 
resnect  for  morals,  the  mdividualistic  stand  wnicn  tne 

SEle  processed  employed^  Tt'.'lJ'  SritS^ 
more  rigonstic  ethics  must  be  substituted.  Rigonstie 
ZTcJi!^n  general  not  obtainable  by  the  expenmental 
jSure  which  comparative  anthropology  as  a  sci- 

'Xw"itt\:"e  that  the  Pure  Ethical  Movement 
boldly  grasps  the  bull  by  the  horn,  wid  says:  Science 
de^ndfon  the  validity  of  the  aw  of  causation  The 
la^of  causation  must  be  absolu  ely  accepted  or  you 
can  have  no  science.  Not  a  single  exception  from  ite 
oBeration  is  allowed.  If  the  scientist  accepts  this,  ^d 
Srmust  or  he  has  no  science  that  predicts  consequences 


The  Pure  Ethical  Movement 


173 


from  the  conditions,  but  mere  probabilities,  then,  he 
gives  up  his  claim  to  experience  as  a  basis  for  his  work, 
and  starts  instead  with  a  universal  which  it  is  impos- 
sible to  experience.  Be  starts  with  the  absolute  neces- 
sity of  the  law  of  causation,  and  of  such  necessity  there 
can  be  no  experience.  Instead  therefore  of  the  par- 
ticular experiences  forming  the  basis  of  a  general  law, 
the  general  law  is  the  very  basis  of  the  science  whereby 
particular  experiences  are  organized.  This  universality 
of  law  is  necessary  in  science.  It  is  not  a  proof,  but  a 
postulate  of  all  proofs. 

Likewise  in  morals,  there  is  a  law  which  imposes 
itself  upon  all  acts.  It  is  the  unifying  principle  in 
conduct  just  as  the  law  of  causation  is  the  basis  of 
science.  This  unifying  principle  is  beyond  experience 
just  as  the  law  of  causation  is  beyond  experience.  It 
is  a  postulate  of  thought,  and  cannot  be  experienced. 
Its  reality  is  not,  however,  thereby  impaired.  It  is 
the  reality  that  forever  stands  aloof  from  experience. 
Nay,  this  reality  gives  validity  to  the  reality  that  is 
experienced,  just  as  the  law  of  causation  which  is  not 
experienced  gives  validity  to  the  particular  sciences 
which  deal  with  experience.  This  law  is  not  crystal- 
lized into  any  content.  It  remains  form  forever. 
Herein  the  Pure  Ethical  Movement  differs  from  the 
Religious  Ethical  Movement  which  assumes  a  unity 
endowed  with  certain  attributes  and  with  a  content. 
This  crystallized  content  then  becomes  the  only  content 
and  conformity  to  this  content  is  a  test  of  morality 
and  salvation. 

The  Pure  Ethical  Movement  gives  no  content  to  its 
principle  of  unity  and  therefore  admits  an  infinite 
variety  of  contents  under  it.  It  is  thoroughly  demo- 
cratic. And  herein  lies  the  hope  of  moral  reform.  On 
the  one  hand,  there  must  be  a  rigidity  of  the  moral  law 


174  Three  Types  of  Practical  Ethical  Movements 

which  shall  dispel  from  conduct  individual  caprice  and 
^rSiu^^^^^^  and  on  the  other  hand  there  must 

t  SlishSi  a  moral  democracy  under  whose  regime 
Lis",  spirit  A.U  M.  htoM,lf  .  -'->f  ^'S 
giver   amidst   fellow   sovereigns.     The   ^J^J^^^^ 
Movement  furnishes  both  these  conditions  of  moral  life. 
In  this  movement,  tW^^e    rests  the^^^^^^^^ 
moral  reform  of  our  social  order,  and  from  the  estao- 
UshmeS  of  Ethical  Societies  in  i-re-^^^^^ 
may  be  expected  the  conquest   of   those  ^^^titut^ons 
wMch  are  aVpresent  the  great^t  ^-d--^^^^^^^^^^ 
reform    namely,  the  materialistic  journalism  and  the 
mSlistic  iational  systems  of  the  present  time- 
Se  two  agencies  which,  if  constituted  on  an  ethica 
ratherthaf  on  a  materialistic  basis  would  be  the  most 
potent  protagonists  of  social  reform. 


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11 


The  Religious  Ethical  Movement  177 


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Amer.     Catholic     Quarterly 

Review, 
The  Biblical  World. 
Christian  Socialism. 
Commonwealth  (The) 
Church  Family  Newspaper. 
Church  Quarterly  Review. 
The  Dawn. 
Economic  Review  (Organ  of 

Christian  Social  Union). 


Grande  Review. 
Hihhert  Journal. 
Journal  d,  Economistes. 
New  Century  Review 
New  Quarterly  Magazine. 
Politics  for  the  People. 
Political  Science. 
Review  d.  deux  Mondes 
Reformer  (The). 


The  Social  Ethical  Movement 


179 


ti 


PIBLIOGEAPHY 

OF  THE 

SOCIAL  ETHICAL  MOYEMENT 

T  ^^.    Ttpmorracv  and  Social  Ethics;  The  Ohjec- 
""''Zl'  vZe  STSl  tmer.ent;  PManthropy  and 

Social  Progress;  Newer  Ideals  of  feace. 
Booth :    In  Darkest  England. 

ciology;  Social  Settlements, 
HuU  House :    Mavs  and  Papers. 

Starr   G. :    Settlements  and  the  Church  s  vuty. 
Toynbee,"  A. :    Indv^triM  Revolution. 

Periodicals 


Andover  Review.  , 

American  Journal  of  Soci- 
ology. ^ 
Annals  American  Academy. 

Arena. 

Atlantic  Monthly. 
Biblical  World.    ^ 
Canadian  Magazine,  1897. 
Catholic  World. 
Charities  Review. 
Chautauqua. 
Contemporary  Review. 

Craftsman. 


Current  Literature. 

Dial. 

Electric  Magazine. 

Ethical  Record. 
Ounton's  Magazine. 
Harpef^s  Bazar.  ^ 
Harper's  Magazine. 
Harvard     Theological 

view. 
Hihhert  Journal. 
Independent. 
International     Journal     of 

Ethics. 


Be- 


Living  Age. 
MacmUlan's  Magazine. 
Municipal  Affavrs. 
Mu^ic. 
Nation,  The. 

National      Conference      of 
Charities  and  Corrections. 
New  Church  Review. 
New  England  Magazine. 
19th  Century  Magazine. 
North  American. 
Outlook. 
Overland. 


178 


Putnam's  Magazine. 

Qu/irterly  Journal  of  Eco- 
nomics. 

Reform  Church  Review. 

Review  of  Reviews. 

Science. 

Scribne/s. 

Survey. 

University  of  Chicago  Maga- 
zine. 

University  Record. 

Westminster  Review. 


r 


BIBLIOGEAPHY 

OF  THE 

PUEE  ETHICAL  MOVEMENT 

Adler,  F.:  The  Need  of  a  New  Moral  Movement  in  Re- 
ligion; The  Freedom  of  Public  Worship;  The  Distinc- 
tive Aim^  of  the  Ethical  Culture  School;  The  Four 
Types  of  Suffering;  The  Spiritual  Meaning  of  Mar- 
riage;  The  Essentials  of  Spirituality;  The  Religion 
of  Duty;  Life  and  Destiny;  A  Protest  Against  the  Rus- 
sian Treaty;  Marriage  and  Divorce;  Mohammed;  The 
Recent  Persecution  of  the  Jews;  Creed  and  Deed;  The 
World  Crisis  and  its  Meaning,  D.  Appleton  &  Co.,  1915 ; 
An  Ethical  Philosophy  of  Life,  B.  Appleton  &  Co.,  1918. 

Brooks,  E.  C. :    Comiption  in  American  Politics. 

Martin,  A.  W. :     The  Worlds s  Great  Religions. 

Pierce,  F. :     Political  Morality. 

Salter,  W.  M.:  The  First  Anniversary  of  the  Society  for 
Ethical  Culture;  Ethical  Religion,  Little  Brown  &  Co., 
1889. 

Sheldon,  W.  L. :    Meaning  of  the  Ethical  Movement. 

Society  for  Ethical  Culture:  Dedication  of  the  Meeting 
House;  Twenty  Years  of  the  Ethical  Movement. 

Periodical  Literature 

American  Historical  Association,  Report,  1903. 

American  Journal  Sociology,  13. 

Annal  American  Academy,  32,  29,  25. 

Charities,  15, 18, 19,  20. 

Contemporary  R.,  64. 

Current  Literature,  40,  43, 

Ethical  Record. 

180 


The  Pure  Ethical  Movement 

Forum,  16. 

Harvard  University  Philos. 

Hihhert  Journal,  7;  596. 

Independent,  Vol.  58,  62. 

Inter.  Journal  Ethics,  10. 

North  American  Review,  136. 

19th  Century,  4. 

Open  Court,  1,  11,  15. 

Outlook,  82,  86. 

Philosophical  Review,  1. 

Popular  Science  Monthly,  45. 

Psychological  Review,  3. 

The  Standard. 

Survey,  22. 

The  Ethical  Record,  Vol.  1,  2,  1888,  1890. 

Westminster  Review,  159. 


181 


i 


INDEX 


Addams,  J.,  63,  64,  66,  67,  69, 
81,  86,  87,  89,  93,  100,  168, 
169,  170. 

Adler,  F.,  107,  108,  117,  123, 
125,  137,  151,  152,  161,  164. 

Aristotle,  40,  94. 

Barnett,  S.  A.,  58,  61,  62,  63, 

66,  81,  82,  84. 
Business  Men's  Group,  171 

Carlyle,  T.,  3,  4,  5,  12,  13,  14. 

Catechism,  23. 

Chartism,  6,  7,  15. 

Christ,  19,  21,  41. 

Christian  Social  Fellowship,  31, 

32,  33,  34. 

Christian  Social  Union,  16,  23, 

27,  31,  43. 
Christian  Socialism,  9,  10,  11, 

12,  15,  16,  20,  21,  23,  29,  30, 

33,  42,  54,  55,  56,  57,  59,  84. 
Coit,  S.,  63,  66. 

Darwin,  C,  4,  107. 
Davidson,  T.,  17,  37. 
Denison,  £.,  58,  59,  60,  61,  63. 
Dewey,  J.,   81. 

Ethical  Culture  Society,  107, 
111,  112  113,  114,  115,  116, 
125,  127,  128,  129,  133,  156, 
157,  166,  168. 

Ethical  Leaders,  115. 

Fabian  Society,  17,  21,  56. 
Fatherhood,  9,  41. 
Feudalism,  4. 
Fourier,  26. 


Giddings,  56. 
Gore,  25,  28. 
Green,  T.  H.,  57,  58. 
Guild  of  St.  Matthew,  16,  17, 
20,  21,  23,  31,  56. 

Haeckel,  122. 

Hall,  T.  C,  93. 

Headlam,  S.  D.,  17,  21,  22. 

Hebrew  Ethics,  115. 

Holy  Ghost,  41. 

Hull  House,  64. 

Kant,  E.,  107,  127,  150,  163, 

164,  165,  166. 
Klngsley,  C,  6,  7,  15,  55,  59, 

60,  109. 

Leibnitz,  159,  160,  165,  166. 
Ludlow,  7. 

Manchester  Economists,  55,  56, 
94. 

Maurice,  F.  D.,  5,  7,  9,  10,  11, 
12,  13,  15,  16,  17,  21,  22,  23, 
24,  25,  26,  38,  39,  59,  60,  109. 

Mazzini,  7. 

Monadology,  159. 

Neighborhood  Guild,  64. 

Owen,  B.,  26. 

Parson,  Lot,  7. 

Patten,  39. 

Pestalozzi,  74. 

Plato,  4,  138. 

Pontics  for  the  People,  7,  8,  9. 


183 


184 


Index 


Pragmatism,  138,  139. 
Pure   Ethical    Movement,    107, 
124,  129,  140,  150,  151,  173. 

Beligious  Ethical  Movement,  3, 
60,  83,  84,  97,  109,  124,  173. 
Rieardo,  11,  56. 
Rousseau,  74,  119. 
Royce,  J.,  51. 
Ruskin,  3,  58,  64. 

Santayana,  21. 

Social  Ethical  Movement,  57, 
60,  61,  62,  64,  65,  83,  84, 
94,  99,  104,  116,  120,  121, 
124,  170. 


Socialism,  6,  8,  17,  18,  21,  25, 

33,  36,  46,  56,  119 
Spargo,  J.,  34. 
Spinoza,  B.,  127. 

Taylor,  G.,  86,  99. 

Toynbee,  A.,  58,  59,  60,  61,  63. 

Toynbee  Hall,  62,  63,  64,  65. 

Universe,  The,  161. 
University  Extension,  61. 
University  Settlement,  61. 

Workingmen's  CJoUege,  12,  15, 
60,  61. 

Yahveh,  40,  41. 


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